Film Screening
Save the Green Planet!
Directed by Chang, Jun-hwan, 2003
22January 2010
The hero of Save the Green Planet, Byung-gu, is a
unbalanced young man, on medication, who
believes that aliens are plotting an imminent assault
on planet Earth. After much research, mostly
through viewing B-grade science fiction films and
reading some very non-mainstream books, he
determines that the head alien in charge of leading
the invasion is already on earth, masquerading as the
successful CEO of a large conglomerate. Byung-gu,
believes that all of Earth’s social ills are the evil doings
of aliens. In order to contact the alien prince he
must find an extra terrestrial living on Earth.
So
Byoung-gu kidnaps the most logical suspect, Kang,
Man-shik, President and CEO of Yoojae Chemical
company. With the survival of humanity on the line,
he and a sympathetic young tightrope walker from
the circus, take it on themselves to kidnap the
man/alien in the hope of averting the invasion. With
only hours until the eclipse will time run out for
planet Earth? Can Byung-gu save the planet?
The narrative thrust of the film centres around the
confinement of the man/alien in the basement of a
rural home (a dark, nightmarish sort of place) and the
efforts of rival groups of detectives to track down the
kidnapper. The hero, played by Shin Ha-kyun
resembles in many ways, the typical downtrodden
hero. The upporting cast particularly the eccentric,
disgraced detective played by Lee Jae-yong, are
among the film's great strengths.
Jang Jun-hwan excels at the technical aspects of
filmmaking, and is very good at controlling the film's
emotions.
His screenplay is also quite daring,
showing little regard for either Hollywood narrative
conventions or for playing it safe commercially.
The film is more suited as a cult item and it won a
large number of viewers at fantasy film festivals
around the world and netted multiple festival
awards, including Best Director at the Moscow
International Film Festival and Best Film at the
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) . |
