Save the Green Planet!

In preparation to experience the latest Yorgos Lanthimos film this week, I wanted to see the movie upon which it is based. Lucky for me I had a DVD I had gotten at one time from one of those $2 carded discs at a Family Dollar store. It was filed away, but I had never watched it. There is a right time for everything.

According to a poll taken in 2024, one in three Americans believe that aliens from another planet are living among us disguised as human beings. Nearly half of all Americans believe that aliens from another planet exist. Still, 37% of Americans believing that people are walking around as body-snatched aliens is quite alarming. What sorts of lengths might people go to, to expose these aliens? Could they, for instance, kidnap the CEO of a company?

This is what happens in Save the Green Planet. Kang Man-shik (Baek Yoon-shik) is president and CEO of Yoojae Chemical Company, a corporation that is engaging in experimentation to develop drugs. Lee Byeong-gu (Shin Ha-kyun) believes that Kang is an alien leader from the planet Andromeda. Lee also worked in one of Kang's plants with his mother. Now he has Kang in his mountain "fortress" dungeon, torturing him and hoping that his efforts will ward off the impending alien invasion.

Assisting him is his girlfriend Sooni (Hwang Jung-min). On the case is disgraced Inspector Choo (Lee Jae-yong), who plays by his own rules. Also tasked with looking into the kidnapping is recent graduate of the academy Tae-sik (Kim Dong-hyun). This is comedic at times, but far more tragic than that. The culmination of the film is bloody and violent, with a surprise ending that you will not believe (or will you?).

This classic Korean sci-fi/crime thriller mash-up is not as widely seen as it should be. Although I thought the now out of print DVD looked fine, it needs an upgrade. Perhaps considering its pedigree fueling the latest from Lanthimos, it may get some love on physical media. It is nowhere to be found on streaming, so good luck if you want to see it. Writer director Jang Joon-hwan crafted this minor masterpiece from whole cloth and deserves much credit for making Bugonia a possibility. I hope he gets an honorable mention if award season gives birth to acceptance speeches. Also, Lee Dong-jun has provided the film with a haunting score. I am now ready for my Lanthimos.

The set-up alone for Save the Green Planet demands your attention.

When a drugged up, marginalized bee-keeper (Ha-kyun Shin) researches the background of a powerful industrialist (Yun-shik Baek), he can draw only one conclusion: the latter is an alien from Andromeda with designs on taking over the Earth on the next eclipse. And he does what any paranoid, stimulant-addled citizen might do -- kidnap the man, shackle him in his basement, and torture the truth out of him.

From this wacky premise comes one of those rare films that successfully mixes dark comedy with true pathos. But the real excitement comes with the film-making, which offers cinematic parodies, inventive plotting, and some penetrating commentary on the evolution of humankind. If Charlie Kaufman were South Korean, this would be the kind of film he'd make.

Alternative history fans will roll in the aisles with the film's wry treatment of UFOs, the death of the dinosaurs, alien abduction, and all sorts of science fiction clichés. Save the Green Planet is just plain fun -- scary fun, uncomfortable fun -- but you won't dare doze off for even an instant.

Now this is something different, that is one thing I can assure you. I didn't know what to expect from this piece. So let's start somewhere. If you like original movies, this one qualifies! It is a weird (but good) mix of different genres here, and all in all it is one superb hybrid film. It has it what it takes to keep you focused, changing rapidly between some more thriller/horror moments and all of a sudden there is a large dose of a more comedy touch - all blended with a feeling of sci-fi. Ha-Kyun Shin makes a superb performance here, and you develop some kind of hate-love for his character. South Korea keeps supplying us with great movies, and here's a solid 8/10. If you like "Oldboy" and familiar stuff, I bet you will like this one. At least give it a try.

I love Korean cinema. Even when it makes as little coherent sense as this, you still come out of it really refreshed and humbled by the sheer weirdness of it all. When you think you know what is coming you are driven right back to the park of the unknown. This bizarre story of a nobody who deems it a good idea to kidnap a successful businessman he believes to be an alien, incorporating torturous sanity, vigilante gumshoes and lots and lots of nastiness will stretch your basic emotions beyond their thresholds, making a mockery out of them in the latter acts. Usually when a film is as blatantly silly as this it would be easy to dismiss it as nonsensical whiff that was probably made up on the spot as the film went on. And believe me, you won't get much of an argument from me about that. Yet despite the obvious obscenity of the screenplay 'Save The Green Planet' never seems like a movie that wants to satisfy your expectations. It wants to throw them in the river and have them chewed up by sharks. The ride, itself, is a fantastically demented one, so if you can stomach the nastiness of it all, you shouldn't be hateful towards its blatant weirdness. You may even embrace it. Having you guessing right up until the final head-scratching scenes, the movie will leave you bewildered as whether to cry, laugh, shout or scream. Trying all four at once will probably give you the most satisfaction.

A very original genre hoping Experimental Sci-fi, Black comedy which slowly dissolves into chilling Horror. Bizarre and captivating, completely defies any genre. Highly underrated when compared films of Bong joon ho,Park Chan-wook and Im Sang-soo. The plot is really clever, it's just that it may not be immediately accessible to a lazy viewer. This is a film that invites numerous interpretations, as all great art does - however, this film is also very entertaining, making it a rare film experience. It's simultaneously provocative and fun. The gore scenes are really funny as the film doesn't takes itself too seriously."Save the Green Planet" is wonderfully photographed and the use of colors is top-notch.The characters are insane and there is enough shocking surprises to satisfy fans of horror, dark humor and extreme cinema. This movie definitely deserves more attention and needs to seen by many.