''Save the Green Planet!'' (Korean title: 지구를 지켜라!, ''Jigureul Jikyeora!'') is a South Korean
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...
written and directed by
Jang Joon-hwan, released on 4 April 2003. The basic story begins when the main character, Lee Byeong-gu, kidnaps another man, convinced that the latter is an alien.
Plot
The film's main character is Byeong-gu, a man who believes that aliens from Andromeda PK 45 are about to attack Earth and that he is the only one who can prevent them. With his childlike circus-performer girlfriend Su-ni, he kidnaps a powerful pharmaceutical executive Kang man shik whom he believes to be a top ranking extraterrestrial able to contact the Andromedan prince during the upcoming eclipse. After imprisoning the man in his basement workshop, Byeong-gu proceeds to torture him(he initially attempts to nullify the alien's transmitters using a korean liquid painkiller mulpas(물파스), which contains chlorpheniramine maleate and a "
Italy towel
The Italy towel, ( Korean: 이태리타월) also known as the Korean exfoliating mitt or Korean exfoliating towel (depending on the shape), is a mass-produced bath product used to scrub and peel the outermost layer of skin; it was invented in Busa ...
" used by korean
Ttaemiris.)
It soon seemingly appears that the executive's company poisoned Byeong-gu's mother in a pharmaceuticals test, and that it is vengeance fueled psychosis that causes Byeong-gu to believe the executive is an alien.
When a detective comes calling to investigate the disappearance, the executive tries to escape but is thwarted by Byeong-gu. The detective at first finds nothing unusual thanks to byeong guys attempt to hide it but on his way out sees Byeong-gu's dog (appropriately named Earth) gnawing on the leg bones of his master's past victims. After contacting a partner in the police force he is killed by Byeong-gu's bees, is hacked up and fed to the dog. Byeong-gu then crucifies the executive and breaks his leg with the back of his axe, to punish him for his attempted escape. In a desperate move, the executive convinces Byeong-gu that the bottle of
benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen ato ...
in his car trunk is the antidote for his comatose mother.
As Byeong-gu races to the hospital to deliver the antidote, the executive frees himself by pulling his hands through the nails. He then travels deeper into his captor’s lair, finding evidence of his grim research. Photos of mutilated corpses are littered with blood scrawled notebooks, while hands and brains of past ‘subjects’ reside in jars. Reading through the journals, the executive discovers Byeong-gu's traumatic past: his father was a coal miner who lost one of his arms due to his dangerous work and was killed by his wife when he attempted to attack her and his son. The child was beaten in school and was a victim of the sadistic whims of his cruel teachers. He showed early signs of violence, such as stabbing a fellow school mate with a kitchen knife. His mother was then poisoned in the aforementioned incident and at a protest his former girlfriend was beaten to death. He slowly went mad from the violence that surrounded him.
As this is happening, the dead detective's partner arrives and finds the frantic executive. And Byeong-gu, after desperately rushing to the hospital to give the 'antidote' to his comatose mother, killing her, becomes ever more enraged. He returns home to kill the alien, only to find the detective there as well. After a brief struggle and a bizarre turn of events, he captures both of them and plans on killing them both. The frantic executive then admits to being an alien and proceeds to spin an outlandish tale which stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs(the story heavily inspired from the biblical story and parodies scenes from the 2001:Space Odyssey), about how his race was originally trying to save humanity from a suicide gene(that leads to killing a member of their own species) by experimenting on the genetic code of his mother. He also agrees(while realizing the story might be based on the alien research notes he read about), in what appears to be a time-buying move, to contact the alien prince at the pharmaceutical company factory.
Byeong-gu leaves the detective all his notes, saying that if he does not make it, he will have the responsibility of saving the planet. At the factory, the executive triggers a computer controlled robotic arm to kill Byeong-gu's girlfriend, and after a long struggle, he beats his captor almost to death. When the police arrive, they shoot Byeong-gu, and as he bleeds to death he wonders aloud, "Now who will save the earth?"
When the aliens do arrive and beam up the executive aboard their ship, we learn he is in fact the alien king himself. Disgusted and angered by the torture and corruption and evils of the world, he deems Earth a failed experiment and blasts it from creation. As the credits roll still photographs recap the entire journey of Byeong-gu's life, focusing instead on the beautiful, happy moments of a young boy and man with his father and mother and girlfriend.
Cast
Production
Jang first conceived of the idea for ''Save the Green Planet!'' while watching the film ''
Misery
Misery may refer to:
Fiction
* ''Misery'' (novel), by Stephen King
* ''Misery'' (film), based on the novel
* ''Misery'' (play), based on the novel
* "Misery" (short story), by Anton Chekhov
* "Misery" (''New Girl''), a television episode
* ...
''.
[Stephens, Chuck.]
Leo DiCaprio: Alien Seductor? So Says Director Jang Jun-Hwan.
, The Village Voice, April 12, 2005. He enjoyed it, but was disappointed with the lack of depth of the
Annie Wilkes
Annie Wilkes is the main antagonist in the 1987 novel '' Misery'', by Stephen King. In the 1990 film adaptation of the novel, Wilkes was portrayed by Kathy Bates, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal.
A nurse by trainin ...
character, and accordingly decided that if he made a film about a kidnapping, it would be staged from the point of view of the kidnapper.
Later, Jang stumbled across a crank website accusing actor
Leonardo DiCaprio of being an alien who wanted to conquer Earth by seducing all of its women, and he decided to combine the two concepts.
Remake
In May 2020, it was announced that CJ Entertainment would be producing an English-language remake of the cult film with film-making duo
Ari Aster
Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for writing and directing the horror films '' Hereditary'' (2018) and '' Midsommar'' (2019).
Early life
Aster was born into a Jewish family in N ...
and
Lars Knudsen, whose credits include ''
Midsommar'' and ''
Hereditary
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...
''.
Awards and nominations
;
Blue Dragon Film Awards
The Blue Dragon Film Awards () is an annual awards ceremony that is presented by '' Sports Chosun'' (a sister brand of the ''Chosun Ilbo'') for excellence in film in South Korea.
The Blue Dragon Film Awards considers only blockbusters and popul ...
*Best Supporting Actor:
Baek Yoon-sik
*Best New Director:
Jang Joon-hwan
;
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (french: Festival international du film fantastique de Bruxelles, nl, Internationaal Festival van de Fantastische Fil ...
*Golden Raven Award
;
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of B ...
*Best Actress: Hwang Jeong-min
*ADF Cinematography Award
;
Director's Cut Awards
The Director's Cut Awards () is an annual awards ceremony for excellence in film in South Korea. It is presented by the Korea Film Director's Network (KFDN), a group of approximately 300 Korean filmmakers. The KFDN selects winners in the Korean f ...
*Best New Director:
Jang Joon-hwan
;
Grand Bell Awards
The Grand Bell Awards (), also known as the Daejong Film Awards, is an awards ceremony presented annually by The Motion Pictures Association of Korea for excellence in film in South Korea.
The Grand Bell Awards retains prestige as the oldest co ...
*Best Supporting Actor:
Baek Yoon-sik
*Best New Director:
Jang Joon-hwan
*Best Sound
;
Korean Film Awards
*Best Supporting Actor:
Baek Yoon-sik
*Best New Director:
Jang Joon-hwan
;
25th Moscow International Film Festival
The 25th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 20 to 29 June 2003. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Italian-Spanish film ''The End of a Mystery'' directed by Miguel Hermoso.
Jury
* Sergei Bodrov (Russia – President of the Ju ...
*Nomination - Golden Saint George
*Silver Saint George
;
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (), or BiFan, is an international film festival held annually in July in Bucheon, South Korea. Prior to 2015, it was known as the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival or PiFan. Inaugurated ...
*Best of Puchon
;
Busan Film Critics Awards
*Best Film
*Best Actor:
Shin Ha-kyun
Shin may refer to:
Biology
* The front part of the human leg below the knee
* Shinbone, the tibia, the larger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates
Names
* Shin (given name) (Katakana: シン, Hiragana: しん), a Japanese g ...
*Best New Director:
Jang Joon-hwan
;
International Film Festival Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental f ...
*KNF Award Special Mention
Notes
External links
*
* {{cite news , first=Jeff, last=Shannon, url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/war-of-the-worlds-inside-his-head/, title=War of the worlds ... inside his head? (Movie Review), accessdate=2007-10-10, publisher=
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington s ...
, date=5 August 2005
2003 films
2003 black comedy films
South Korean science fiction comedy films
South Korean black comedy films
2000s science fiction comedy films
2000s Korean-language films
2003 directorial debut films
2003 comedy films
2000s South Korean films