Bugonia Can't Possibly Be Stranger Than the Science Fiction Psychological Drama It's Based On
Greek avant-garde director Yorgos Lanthimos has built a reputation on highly unusual movies. His original stories veer into the bizarre, for instance The Lobster, where single people are compelled to form relationships or face transformed into creatures. Whenever he interprets existing material, he frequently picks basis material that’s quite peculiar also — more bizarre, possibly, than his adaptation of it. This proved true regarding the recent Poor Things, a screen interpretation of the novel by Alasdair Gray gloriously perverse novel, a pro-female, sex-positive take on Frankenstein. Lanthimos’ version is effective, but to some extent, his unique brand of oddity and Gray’s neutralize one another.
The Director's Latest Choice
His following selection to bring to screen also came from unexpected territory. The basis for Bugonia, his recent team-up with leading actress Emma Stone, was 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a confounding Korean genre stew of sci-fi, dark humor, terror, irony, psychological thriller, and police procedural. It's an unusual piece not primarily due to what it’s about — even if that's highly unconventional — but due to the wild intensity of its atmosphere and narrative approach. It's an insane journey.
The Burst of Korean Film
It seems there was a certain energy within the country during that period. Save the Green Planet!, helmed by Jang Joon-hwan, belonged to an explosion of audacious in style, boundary-pushing movies from a new generation of filmmakers including Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It was released concurrently with the director's Memories of Murder and the filmmaker's Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn't as acclaimed as those celebrated works, but there are similarities with them: extreme violence, morbid humor, bitter social commentary, and defying expectations.
The Plot Unfolds
Save the Green Planet! is about a troubled protagonist who abducts a chemical-company executive, convinced he is a being from the planet Andromeda, plotting an attack. Early on, that idea unfolds as slapstick humor, and the young man, Lee Byeong-gu (the actor Shin from Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like an endearing eccentric. Together with his innocent circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni (the actress Hwang) don black PVC ponchos and absurd helmets adorned with anti-mind-control devices, and use balm for defense. Yet they accomplish in abducting inebriated businessman Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and transporting him to a secluded location, a ramshackle house/lab assembled in a former excavation amid the hills, where he keeps bees.
Growing Tension
From this point, the narrative turns into something more grotesque. Lee fastens Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and subjects him to harm while ranting bizarre plots, ultimately forcing his kind girlfriend away. Yet the captive is resilient; driven solely by the conviction of his own superiority, he is willing and able to undergo horrifying ordeals just to try to escape and lord it over the clearly unwell younger man. Simultaneously, a comically inadequate police hunt for the abductor gets underway. The officers' incompetence and clumsiness recalls Memories of Murder, although the similarity might be accidental within a story with plotting that appears haphazard and unrehearsed.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! just keeps barrelling onward, driven by its manic force, breaking rules along the way, long after you might expect it to either settle down or lose energy. At moments it appears to be a drama regarding psychological issues and excessive drug use; at other times it becomes a fantasy allegory about the callousness of the economic system; alternately it serves as a dirty, tense scare-fest or a bumbling detective tale. Director Jang maintains a consistent degree of hysterical commitment to every bit, and the performer delivers a standout performance, even though Lee Byeong-gu constantly changes among visionary, charming oddball, and terrifying psycho in response to the film's ever-changing tone in mood, viewpoint, and story. I think it's by design, not a flaw, but it may prove quite confusing.
Designed to Confuse
Jang probably consciously intended to confuse viewers, mind. Like so many Korean films during that period, Save the Green Planet! is powered by a joyful, extreme defiance for stylistic boundaries on one side, and a profound fury about human cruelty in another respect. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a nation finding its global voice alongside fresh commercial and social changes. It will be fascinating to witness Lanthimos' perspective on the original plot from a current U.S. standpoint — perhaps, a contrasting viewpoint.
Save the Green Planet! is available to stream without charge.
