Bugonia Can't Possibly Be More Bizarre Than the Science Fiction Psychodrama It's Adapted From
Aegean avant-garde filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is known for distinctly odd movies. The narratives he creates defy convention, for instance The Lobster, in which unattached individuals must partner up or risk transformed into creatures. Whenever he interprets another creator's story, he frequently picks source material that’s quite peculiar as well — stranger, possibly, than his adaptation of it. That was the case with 2023’s Poor Things, a film version of author Alasdair Gray's gloriously perverse novel, an empowering, open-minded reimagining of Frankenstein. His film stands strong, but to some extent, his unique brand of weirdness and the author's balance each other.
Lanthimos’ Next Pick
The filmmaker's subsequent choice to bring to screen was likewise drawn from unexpected territory. The basis for Bugonia, his latest collaboration with acclaimed performer Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a bewildering Korean mix of styles of sci-fi, dark humor, terror, satire, psychological thriller, and cop drama. The movie is odd not so much for what it’s about — even if that's far from normal — but due to the wild intensity of its tone and narrative approach. It’s a wild, wild ride.
The Burst of Korean Film
There likely existed something in the air within the country during that period. Save the Green Planet!, the work of Jang Joon-hwan, was included in a surge of daringly creative, boundary-pushing movies from fresh voices of filmmakers like Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It was released alongside Bong’s Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn't as acclaimed as those two crime masterpieces, but there are similarities with them: graphic brutality, morbid humor, pointed observations, and defying expectations.
Narrative Progression
Save the Green Planet! revolves around a disturbed young man who kidnaps a business tycoon, believing he’s a being originating in another galaxy, intent on world domination. At first, the premise is played as slapstick humor, and the lead, Lee Byeong-gu (the actor Shin from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), comes across as a charmingly misguided figure. Alongside his naive acrobat girlfriend Su-ni (Hwang Jung-min) wear slick rainwear and bizarre masks fitted with anti-mind-control devices, and wield menthol rub for defense. But they do succeed in abducting drunken CEO Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and transporting him to a secluded location, a makeshift laboratory assembled on an old mine in the mountains, home to his apiary.
Shifting Tones
From this point, the story shifts abruptly into ever more unsettling. The protagonist ties Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and physically abuses him while ranting outlandish ideas, ultimately forcing his kind girlfriend away. But Kang is no victim; powered only by the conviction of his elevated status, he can and will to endure awful experiences in hopes of breaking free and lord it over the disturbed younger man. Meanwhile, a comically inadequate manhunt to find the criminal gets underway. The cops’ witlessness and incompetence is reminiscent of Memories of Murder, though it’s not so clearly intentional in a film with plotting that seems slapdash and unrehearsed.
Unrelenting Pace
Save the Green Planet! plunges forward relentlessly, fueled by its manic force, trampling genre norms underfoot, long after it seems likely it to calm down or run out of steam. Sometimes it seems to be a drama about mental health and excessive drug use; at other times it becomes a metaphorical narrative regarding the indifference of capitalism; sometimes it’s a claustrophobic thriller or an incompetent police story. Jang Joon-hwan brings the same level of feverish dedication throughout, and Shin Ha-kyun shines, although the protagonist constantly changes from savant prophet, charming oddball, and dangerous lunatic depending on the narrative's fluidity in tone, perspective, and plot. It seems it's by design, not a bug, but it may prove quite confusing.
Intentional Disorientation
It's plausible Jang aimed to disorient his audience, of course. In line with various Korean films during that period, Save the Green Planet! draws energy from a joyful, extreme defiance for genre limits on one side, and a genuine outrage about man’s inhumanity to man in another respect. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a nation finding its global voice alongside fresh commercial and cultural freedoms. One can look forward to see the director's interpretation of the same story through a modern Western lens — arguably, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! is accessible for viewing for free.
