Bugonia Isn't Likely to Be Weirder Than the Science Fiction Psychological Drama It's Based On
Greek surrealist director Yorgos Lanthimos specializes in distinctly odd movies. The narratives he creates defy convention, such as The Lobster, in which single people need to find love or else be changed into beasts. Whenever he interprets existing material, he frequently picks basis material that’s rather eccentric also — more bizarre, possibly, than the version he creates. That was the case regarding the recent Poor Things, an adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s wonderfully twisted novel, a pro-female, sex-positive take on Frankenstein. His film is effective, but partially, his specific style of eccentricity and Gray’s cancel each other out.
The Director's Latest Choice
His following selection for adaptation similarly emerged from unexpected territory. The basis for Bugonia, his recent team-up with leading actress Emma Stone, comes from 2004’s Save the Green Planet!, a perplexing Korean fusion of sci-fi, dark humor, horror, irony, psychological thriller, and police procedural. It's an unusual piece not so much for its plot — although that's decidedly unusual — but for the frenzied excess of its atmosphere and storytelling style. The film is a rollercoaster.
A Korean Cinema Explosion
It seems there was a creative spirit in South Korea in the early 2000s. Save the Green Planet!, helmed by Jang Joon-hwan, was included in an explosion of stylistically bold, boundary-pushing movies from fresh voices of filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook. It debuted concurrently with the director's Memories of Murder and Park’s Oldboy. Save the Green Planet! isn’t on the same level as those celebrated works, but there are similarities with them: extreme violence, dark comedy, pointed observations, and genre subversion.
The Plot Unfolds
Save the Green Planet! focuses on a troubled protagonist who captures a corporate CEO, convinced he is a being hailing from Andromeda, with plans to invade Earth. Early on, the premise is played as farce, and the protagonist, Lee Byeong-gu (the performer known for Park’s Joint Security Area and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), seems like an endearing eccentric. Alongside his naive acrobat girlfriend Su-ni (the star) don black PVC ponchos and bizarre masks encrusted with mental shields, and use ointment for defense. Yet they accomplish in kidnapping intoxicated executive Kang Man-shik (actor Baek) and taking him to Byeong-gu’s remote property, a ramshackle house/lab assembled at a mining site in the mountains, where he keeps bees.
Shifting Tones
From this point, the story shifts abruptly into increasingly disturbing. Byeong-gu straps Kang to a budget-Cronenberg torture chair and subjects him to harm while ranting absurd conspiracy theories, ultimately forcing the gentle Su-ni away. Yet the captive is resilient; fueled entirely by the belief of his innate dominance, he can and will to undergo horrifying ordeals just to try to escape and exert power over the disturbed protagonist. At the same time, a comically inadequate police hunt for the kidnapper begins. The cops’ witlessness and incompetence is reminiscent of Memories of Murder, even if it may not be as deliberate in a movie with a plot that appears haphazard and spontaneous.
Constant Shifts
Save the Green Planet! continues racing ahead, propelled by its manic force, breaking rules underfoot, well past one would assume it to either settle down or falter. Sometimes it seems to be a drama about mental health and overmedication; in parts it transforms into a metaphorical narrative regarding the indifference of the economic system; alternately it serves as a claustrophobic thriller or a sloppy cop movie. The filmmaker maintains a consistent degree of intense focus in all scenes, and the performer shines, while the protagonist constantly changes among savant prophet, charming oddball, and frightening madman as required by the narrative's fluidity in tone, perspective, and plot. One could argue it's by design, not a mistake, but it can be rather bewildering.
Purposeful Chaos
The director likely meant to disorient his audience, indeed. Similar to numerous Korean films of its time, Save the Green Planet! is powered by a gleeful, maximalist disrespect for artistic rules in one aspect, and a profound fury about societal brutality on the other. The film is a vibrant manifestation of a nation establishing its international presence during emerging financial and cultural freedoms. One can look forward to witness the director's interpretation of the same story through a modern Western lens — perhaps, an opposite perspective.
Save the Green Planet! is available to stream for free.
