Save The Green Planet! (2003)

I have been meaning to see Save The Green Planet since it was first released over 20 years ago. It was one of those titles that became available during the wave of J-horror and South Korean films that contained some real modern classics, encouraging movie fans to keep exploring more and more films from those territories. It just kept being pushed down my list of priorities though, and was only brought back to my attention when I realised that Bugonia (which I am also yet to see) is a remake of it.

Was it worth the wait? Sort of. I think I would have been more disappointed if I'd watched this back in the early 2000s, perhaps with the hope that it would have many more moments designed to unnerve or disturb viewers. It's actually a strangely melancholic film, one that could be viewed as a study of someone with mental health issues acting in a way that eventually endangers everyone around them.

Shin Ha-kyun is our lead character, a man who becomes obsessed with the idea that a well-known pharmaceutical executive (played by Baek Yoon-sik) is actually an alien. It's very soon time for a kidnapping, and then some torture to get the alien scumbag to drop the human disguise and admit the truth. Which is only a solid plan if the alien kidnapee is actually an alien.

Written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan, who apparently wanted to present a film about kidnapping that would allow viewers to have some sympathy for the kidnapper, Save The Green Planet! is a bit of a muddled mess. A lot of individual moments work, and the last third is particularly good, but it struggles to stay focused and engrossing throughout the first hour, especially when showing us the work being done by a couple of detectives on the case.

The leads both do good work, and Hwang Jeong-min is enjoyable in the role of Su-ni (an accomplice/girlfriend who also seems to be viewing the unfolding events without really comprehending the dangerous reality of what is happening), but this is a film that struggles to keep the humanity front and centre. It's a strong idea, one that is carried along to an intriguing conclusion, but not quite strong enough to justify the 118-minute runtime.

It's impressive to watch a movie that constantly pushes against whatever you think it may be, and that's what works for Save The Green Planet! Unfortunately, it also works against it. Jang Joon-hwan is so busy ensuring that the film is strange and unpredictable that he keeps viewers slightly distanced from all that is happening, when it's clear from the chosen POV that he wanted to bring everyone right into the world and the headspace depicted.

I wouldn't call this an interesting failure though. It has enough scenes that work as intended. I'd call it a testing journey that asks for patience from viewers before rewarding them with some powerful moments and highlights delivered in the third act. 

7/10

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Noir-vember: A Bittersweet Life (2005)

I haven't seen many films from writer-director Kim Jee-woon, but I've been very impressed by those I have seen. I Saw The Devil (reviewed here, complete with incorrect naming structure) is fantastic, A Tale Of Two Sisters is a modern horror masterpiece (and the film that put him on my radar, making me keen to see this one when I knew his name was attached to it), and even The Last Stand (reviewed here, where I make the same naming error) is a good bit of fun. So you could say that I'm a fan, and I'll tell you right now that A Bittersweet Life is up there with his best work.

Lee Byung-hun plays Kim, a right hand man to a criminal big cheese named Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol). When he is heading to Shanghai on business, Kang asks Kim to keep an eye on a young woman (Hee-soo, played by Shin Min-ah) he has been seeing. But the young woman may also be seeing someone else. This complicated situation is unfolding at the same time as tensions are rising with another criminal gang, headed up by Baek Dae-sik (played by Hwang Jung-min), meaning things are about to get worse and worse for Kim, a man who has spent a long time trying to do the best job possible for an employer who now looks set to discard him.

There are so many things to praise about A Bittersweet Life that I may as well just apologise now for not mentioning them all. There's only one thing I dislike about it, a comedy sequence that feels jarring until the rest of the film starts to mix the humour more effectively in with some escalating violence, but the rest comes damn close to perfection for every minute of the runtime.

Let's start with the cast, and let's start discussing the cast by discussing the star. Byung-hun is at his very best in the lead role, putting in a performance that is alternately sweet and courteous and then absolutely vicious when necessary. His introduction sets the tone for the whole film, dealing with a big problem by offering the chance of a peaceful resolution before having to resort to swift and decisive violence. Yeong-chol, Min-ah, and Jung-min all do well in their roles, and there are a number of entertaining supporting turns, but this is Byung-hun's movie through and through. He holds the screen in a way that seems effortless, confirming his star status to anyone who hadn't encountered him on film before.

The script, also by Jee-woon, is rich in detail without underlining every sentence. This is a film in which every gesture and word counts, especially when they're being delivered by a main character who doesn't do anything without giving it serious thought beforehand, and the big picture that builds from start to finish makes the whole experience more and more immersive, all the way to a grand finale that ends things very much in line with the title of the film.

Gorgeous cinematography comes courtesy of Kim Ji-yong, and the film is bookended by some great camerawork that replicates a certain journey throughout the main location that feels more like home to Kim than the actual residence where he gets to lay his head down, the music works nicely in an unobtrusive way, and everything just feels perfectly in place, from the clothing to the production design work.

I know that I have one or two reasons for not giving this the highest rating possible, but those reasons are harder to recollect as I spend more time remembering all that is great about it. So be aware that I could happily bump this up after future repeat viewings.

9/10

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