Save the Green Planet: revisiting the zany, off-beat basis for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia
Image Credit: PxHere
Paul Evangelista revisits Save the Green Planet following the recent release of Bugonia.
Aliens are real – and they walk among us.
They wear our clothes and eat our food. They hail from afar, traveling on ships beyond our comprehension, from planets beyond our galaxy. They toy with us, experimenting and poisoning us with Heaven knows what. They’re sly, rising the ranks of our society as lawmakers and CEOs. They use their hair to emit telepathic signals to each other under our noses. They have three weak spots that can be exploited with menthol rub (being their feet, eyes, and a third I would rather not mention). They get embroiled in public cheating scandals with popular actresses.
And, with enough determination, they can be captured and tormented for information.
Save the Green Planet is a 2003 South-Korean black comedy that is equal parts charming and horrifying. The film follows Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun), an overly determined fanatic who believes a pharmaceutical executive is actually an alien hell-bent on invading the world. Despite his well-meaning intentions, Byeong-gu’s efforts to save the world unfortunately include kidnapping, torture, and other unhero-like endeavors. In honor of Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language remake Bugonia, which was recently released, I decided to revisit the source material and was met with a wacky, genre-defying gem of a film bursting with manic energy.
Don’t be fooled by Byeong-gu’s disarming smile found all over the posters. Amidst all the goofy ramblings and nonsensical explanations for alien life lies a sadistic willingness to inflict hurt. It’s clear this isn’t his first rodeo, as we soon find out; he’s equipped with helmets to block out telepathic signals (from alien hair, of course), enough restraints to keep Hannibal Lecter locked up, and enough torture tools to extract information from aliens and gasps from audiences. Ha-kyun shines as Byeong-gu, effortlessly balancing humor and violence often within the same sentences. He approaches the role with a boyish charm that stems from desperation and naivety rather than wit, being less of a ‘Deadpool’ and more of a ‘Vigilante from HBO’s Peacemaker’ type. Resourceful and endlessly committed to his cause, Byeong-gu is fascinating to watch and carries the film’s offbeat tone. Opposite him, Baek Yoon-sik stars as Kang Man-shik, the suspected alien and the movie’s straight man to Ha-kyun’s eccentric role. If Byeong-gu feels like he’s in a sci-fi mystery, Man-shik feels like he’s straight from a horror movie as the helpless victim. This is a man who is tired, sweaty, and exhausted from using his wits to survive. Hints of a sly, conniving CEO shine between moments of pure terror, holding strong opposite Ha-kyun. Comparisons can be drawn to the performances of James Caan and Kathy Bates in 1990’s Misery (which I later found out was directly inspired by this film, as Save the Green Planet director Jang Joon-hwan wished Kathy Bates’ character had more depth).
Save the Green Planet dances along with a carefree, silly tone, effortlessly touching on every genre while still feeling focused. The film feels like a hyper-violent, live-action Looney Tunes episode, complete with larger-than-life characters and slapstick. At one point, a man strangles another to death and taunts him by kicking down on the corpse’s chest, accidentally kick-starting his heart and reviving him to life. In another, Byeong–Gu’s lack of confidence is depicted through an over-the-top martial-arts dream sequence where he beats up an old bully. These scenes are incredibly effective, not despite their comedic elements but because of their commitment to the absurd. The former occurs during a rather brutal scene, during a moment of relief. When his heart is kick-started, it’s shown in a Mortal Kombat-esque x-ray, pulling the rug beneath you and jolting you back into the danger. The film creates this wicked blend of humor and horror as the brutal violence continues. The latter scene is surprisingly well choreographed, employing motivated camerawork and spellbinding wirework reminiscent of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ and older martial arts classics. The violence, while still portrayed with a comic edge, still feels weighty and impactful when it needs to be. Scenes where Byeong-gu experiments on Man-shik still feel hard to watch, often morbid and dire. This does beg the question, however, of whether there is any point to the violence.
It’s hard to fault anyone for being turned off from Save the Green Planet’s carefree depictions of violence; after all, even if the torture scenes carry a comedic tone, the film doesn’t shy away from the infliction of pain sustained on grotesque close-ups of Man-shik. Looney Tunes antics aside, it doesn’t present violence just as entertainment but as part of a nihilistic worldview. Byeong-gu is a product of his environment, a broken world without proper support. Similarly, the film makes it clear Man-shik isn’t squeaky clean, bombarding us with an exposition dump about his misgivings in his professional and personal lives. While the film doesn’t fully excuse violence, it presents it as an unfortunate inevitability in the world we currently live in. In a lesser film, these themes would feel tacked on but Save the Green Planet weaves them in throughout the ride, even if it does take a backseat to the cartoony violence occasionally.
Based on the promotion for Bugonia, it’s hard to tell whether Yorgos Lanthimos will take the same cartoony approach for his American-set remake. Gone are the endearing smiles of kidnapper Byeong-gu on the posters; instead, a close-up of Emma Stone doused in honey takes center stage – an unsettling image. Interestingly enough, there seems to be a larger focus on characterising the CEO character, Michelle Fuller. While entertaining to watch, secondary characters like Man-shik and Byeong-gu’s girlfriend in crime Su-ni do occasionally feel like stock characters, and so exploring more of the CEO’s personal and professional life could add another layer of emotional depth to the story. Her fourth collaboration with Lanthimos (having previously won an Academy Award for Leading actress for Poor Things), Emma Stone also serves as producer through her production company Fruit Tree and, if keeping in line with tradition, is expected to deliver an Academy Award worthy performance. Lanthimos is a director interested in exploring power dynamics. His breakthrough hit Dogtooth dismantles the family dynamic and analyses it to extreme and perverted lengths. Elsewhere, Poor Things delves into identity and self-discovery in a fantastical Victorian London. Unlike the animated performances of Ha-kyun and Yoon-sik, Lanthimos’s performances in his previous works take a more deadpan approach, clinically examining social constructs. With this in mind, I look forward to seeing how Lanthimos interprets the wild and unhinged concept of Save the Green Planet in his own style.
Like its protagonist, Save the Green Planet is a rollercoaster ride that feels wild, unpredictable, and relatively unhinged. It excels at blending horror, melodrama, thriller, action and comedy into a dark package. With the recent release of Bugonia, hopefully more people will discover this gem of a film. Despite some slightly underdeveloped characters and enough torture to make anyone squeal, Byeong-gu’s efforts to save the world deserve to be recognised.
I would give it a 4/5 stars.
Words by Paul Evangelista
Image Credit: PxHere