Wahoo_Man35

Save the Green Planet!

When I first saw Bugonia, I thought it was an amazing film, one of the best from this year, and I was immediately motivated to check out this film to see how it compares. After my third viewing of Bugonia, I realized I still hadn’t seen what inspired the masterpiece. Now that I’ve seen Save the Green Planet!, I have to admit, these feel like separate films. The approach towards Lee Byeong-gu and Teddy are very tonally different between the versions, which influence the story to feeling like totally different movies altogether. And honestly, that’s great! It meant that they aren’t just 1 to 1 copies of each other, allowing both Jang Joon-hwan and Yorgos Lanthimos to breathe their own creativity into the films which gives us two great movies. Something I loved about Save the Green Planet! was the acting, most notably, Shin Ha-kyun. He brings such an energetic and emotional performance behind the main character that has me at points wondering if he out acts Jesse Plemons (but he doesn’t bc Plemons brings an Oscar worthy performance). I also admired the cinematography in this film. The film is absolutely a product of its time, and I feel like the 2000s favored this approach with lighting, and I feel like it fits with the film. There were also some very nicely framed moments. However, because it’s a product of the 2000s, you can tell. The editing is very overdone, and it reminds me of Man on Fire meets Wong Kar-wai (except not used properly). Basically, it’s overwhelming and it’s not enjoyable to sit through. On the more nitpicking side of my criticism, the way the story unfolds isn’t as good as Bugonia. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It’s a much more fast paced film which manages to cram more chaos into the story. Anyways, I’ve rambled on about Save the Green Planet! and Bugonia too much. Watch it if you haven’t, it’s a great film. I’m giving it an 8/10.

Nxomi???

Save the Green Planet!

Save the Green Planet! is a unique film, full of visual and narrative resources that keep you glued to the screen from beginning to end. Jang Joon-hwan builds a conspiratorial thriller that moves between genres with surprising naturalness, never losing its direction or its purpose. Lee is a broken character, disillusioned with humanity and yet determined to save it, although he is also influenced by a deep sense of vengeance and hatred toward a man who “coincidentally” represents all the harm he has suffered. His paranoia, his troubling and heartbreaking past, and the way he interprets the world create a powerful effect on the viewer. The narrative revolves constantly around him and plays with our empathy and our double standards. We constantly see his own vision, what he believes is happening, and something in that distortion makes us understand that he has fallen into madness, gradually becoming a maniac. The film is an incredible test of perspective. Even when surrounded by characters who commit bad actions, the story shows us why each one does what they do, without justifying anything, simply revealing the nuances that led them there. And even so, none of that changes what they did. The ending is particularly strong, especially with the images of the Holocaust and other historical documentation of genocides and war, which expose the extreme cruelty the human being is capable of. The message is harsh and realistic, emphasizing that in every historical wave, humans have ended up destroying the planet. This is the kind of thriller I deeply enjoy. It begins by selling you the idea of a possible killer, but ends up showing you a man who, inside his head, believes he has very good reasons for doing what he does. Its initial structure might seem simple, but it contains a brilliant conspiratorial madness that was far ahead of its time. I know I am not mentioning the alien conspiracy aspect in detail, but believe me, it is much more interesting when you watch the film, interesting but also somewhat predictable.

pleiades

Save the Green Planet!

❝You humans will just follow the same path again... you will destroy yourselves! This time, there's no second chance. Your core has already been infected. This beautiful planet is dying because of you.❞ 𐄁─────⋆⁺‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧⁺⋆─────𐄁 I've had this film in my watchlist for a while, but decided to watch it after finding out Bugonia (which I'm seeing next week) is a remake of it. And I have to say it was absolutely insane, and so, so good. I will say, though, that if your not a fan of blood, don't watch this, because although it's not as graphic as, say, The Substance, it still gave me goosebumps. The plot can be a little hard to follow after the explosive opening, but I found it pretty manageable. Shin Ha-kyun gave an outstanding performance; while I'm not the most familiar with his work, I've seen one or two of his films before, and after this I definitely need to see more. Byeong-gu was a very complex character, and while his actions were deplorable I can understand why he did what he did (and it turned out he was right, although it doesn't excuse him in any way). Baek Yun-shik was also extremely good as Kang Man-shik, and that plot twist right at the end got me good. The one character who didn't deserve any of it was Su-ni; she was, quite frankly, manipulated and suffered as a consequence of everyone else's actions. I truly do recommend giving this a watch, because it's too excellently made to be this underrated.

Aakansha

Save the Green Planet!

Not our planet being hopeless lol Thought the twist was going to turn out to be that he was, in fact, an alien. And I was ofc right. Need to see more alien fic situated outside of the west Starts with so much energy but loses a bit of steam, imo, after a while, only to pick it back up around the time the detective dies. checked the runtime multiple times so I’m conflicted between a 3 and 3.5. the opening credits were cool and I loved the “conspiracy theorists” costume Can’t wait to see Bugonia