re:mote voices

Title: Save The Green Planet [Jigureul Jikyeora!]
Cast: Ha-kyun Shin, Yun-shik Baek, Jeong-min Hwang, Jae-yong Lee, Ju-hyeon Lee, Ju-bong Gi
Director: Jun-hwan Jeong

The latest in the Asian Extreme season showing across the UK, Save The Green Planet also suggests that perhaps the season isn’t doing very well. Condemned to filler afternoon slots, and denied even one evening showing – which I guess is targeting a student market, with the assumption that there is more money to be made from more lucrative films in evening slots. Which is disappointing.

Save The Green Planet is an odd Korean film, which as happens with these things, is a couple of years old, but just coming out here – at a time which coincides with the British thriller Trauma, with which there are some parallels to be had. Both revolve around a character who is convinced that they are aware of the truth of their reality, while all around seem to believe in a contradictory state of affairs. Both films play around with this, mixing in the ideas of a rugged, dogged cop questioning events, along with the erratic addition of CCTV style footage.

Lee Byeong-gu is convinced that Earth has been infiltrated by aliens from Andromeda, and as the only person who realises this it is duty to save the rest of us. As the film goes on it becomes clear that he has been doing this for a while, Kang Man-shik being the thirteenth person he has abducted – convinced this time he has a high ranking alien, who will be able to provide the information about the imminent invasion. Kang Man-shik however is a prominent business man, the head of one of Korea’s top chemical companies, and is married to the chief of police’s daughter. Which of course makes Kang’s abduction a priority, resulting in two different police officers going against department policy in their attempts to retrieve Kang. The first is the rugged detective, disgraced and banished to the police station’s kitchens for some past indiscretion. The other is a young graduate, described as being brilliant and with a bright future ahead. As they track the trail of disappearances they are closing in on Lee Byeong-gu, and perhaps unsurprisingly coming to the conclusion that they are dealing with someone who is mentally ill.

Save The Green Planet has a certain level of humour, but turns out to be more bizarre than funny. The more we learn, the more we see the darkness, the reasons for why events have become this way – on the one hand, providing an undercurrent of criticism of Korean society, while on the other bringing up the overwhelming monstrosity of the human race. At the centre of which we have the dynamic of Lee and Kang, as Lee tortures Kang to force him to reveal the alien plans, and Kang spits and shouts and does his best to escape. Kang in fact is a brilliant “villain”, to a degree we have a certain sympathy for him because he is the hostage, and the treatment he is getting is appalling. But there is something in the sheer level of attitude he radiates, which suggests that perhaps for all Lee’s misguided reasons, Kang is getting exactly what he deserves.

Of all the films in this season, a handful of which have been slated for American remakes (The Grudge hitting our screens soon) – I think I would actually like to see what on Earth they would do with Save The Green Planet. Of course, the chances are that they would make a mess of it, but it might almost be amusing to see what would happen. Though actually I think on reflection, Charlie Kaufman might just be the perfect candidate for working with this madness.