Review
by Martin Cleary
For some reason I thought that Save The Green Planet was a ‘crazy’
comedy. The film’s colourful posters and adverts all depict Shin Ha-Kyun
smiling like a moron. Even looking at the dvd case I was still
expecting something possibly Stephen Chow-like. I couldn’t have been
more wrong. Green Planet is partly a comedy – and yes, it has some
brilliantly funny scenes – but it’s also quite nasty. Think
Reservoir Dogs meets Men In Black and that’s still only part-way to
describing this amazing film from South Korea.
We know from the outset of STGP that Kang Man-Shik isn’t a very nice
character. He’s a wealthy businessman who refuses to pay the driver
the whole cost of the trip home, and he’s very drunk and leery.
Then, Byung-Gu and his girlfriend Sooni turn up wearing ridiculous
costumes and accuse him of being an alien from the planet Andromeda.
We’re fairly convinced that Byung-Gu’s got a screw loose. The rich
man seems to be an arse, not an alien. After a struggle, Byung-Gu
and Sooni kidnap the man. All three of them arrive back at
Byung-Gu’s house, where they strip Man-Shik down to his sparkly red
boxer-shorts and shave his head (so he can’t call his alien friends
for help through his hair). From here STGP slows down just for a
second, long enough for us to wonder just what the hell is going on
here. To reveal anything that happens next would be unfair as the
narrative spins of into all sorts of bizarre and brilliant angles.
To call this off-beat is an understatement. What follows is part cop
movie, part romance, part science fiction, part – well it’s hard to
think of a film genre that isn’t in some
way injected into the mix. There’s even a short martial arts fight
scene! How the hell the director has managed to shoe-horn all of
these elements in is beyond me. (A quick warning to anyone squeemish:
one of the most surprising elements of the film is the violence -
this film does get fairly nasty just when you’re not expecting it.)
As surprising as the film is, what is the biggest surprise is how
well it all actually works together. You’re never quite sure who the
victim is in the film, and there’s a strange attraction to all of
the main characters. There’s no real un-likeable characters here,
you like them all – which is unusual considering several of them
perform some horrible torture and violence.I certainly wasn’t
expecting it, but I was completely blown away by Save The Green
Planet. The fact that this is a film from a first-time director is
gob-smacking. With the majority of films you get to a point where
you know roughly what will happen heading towards the end – I didn’t
when I was watching this film. The film’s cast can not be praised
highly enough - especially the two central performances from Shin
Ha-Kyun and Paek Yun-Sik. Ha-Kyun takes that stupid grin from the
film’s poster and turn’s it into a character of its own. In an
amazing performance he manages to mix violence and anger with a
genuine warmth and sympathy. The fact that Yun-Sik manages to match
Ha-Kyun’s powerhouse performance is a sign of just how good this
film is. As the tortured businessman he manages to convince that he
is a complete and rounded character – yes he’s a bastard, but his
sheer ‘hard-headedness’ is impressive. Also, worth a mention is
Hwang Jeong-Min as the simple girlfriend Sooni. It’s a role which is
tiny in size but she manages to make a large impact. Have I gushed
on about this enough? I could keep going on about the
cinematography, script and soundtrack all day – but I won’t.
I loved Save The Green Planet, it’s one of the most surprising films
I’ve ever seen and although it won’t be to everyone’s taste (if you
can’t stand violence then steer clear) it’s worth a look from anyone
who likes something a bit different. If you do see it, you’ll never
hear the song ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ in the same way again.
See it!
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| Acting : |
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| Notable Scenes : |
- Byung-Gu’s costume
- The opening theme tune
- The martial arts fight
- The anal probe (?!)
- The rest of the film! |
DVD Review : Save The Green Planet (2 Disc Ed)
(Tartan Extreme)
by Martin Cleary
The Disc:
This is a very impressive release from Tartan Asia Extreme. The
picture and sound quality seem to me to be perfect. The film has
lots of strange lighting and different styles throughout and these
seem captured beautifully, the blacks are really black and the
colours bright. It’s an
excellent transfer. The subtitles are also excellent. There’s a
couple of moments when English subs are placed over ‘burnt’ Korean
subtitles which is a slight annoyance, but it’s only twice and no
big deal. This is a superb presentation of the film.
In conclusion, this dvd release seems to have everything you could
want in terms of special features. Also the interviews aren’t
intercut with film clips unless they’re really necessary to
highlight what is being said (instead of using them to make the
featurette longer).
Highly recommended.
DVD Info
Content : Two Discs
Format : Letterbox 1.85:1
Languages: Korean
Audio: Stereo, 5.1, DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English
Region: 2
Presentation (Cover / Menus): 9/10
Picture: 10/10
Subtitles: 9/10
Special Features: 9/10
DISC 1
-Directors Commentary: Commentary track with director Jang Jun-Hwan
and leading man Shin
Ha-Kyun. This is a really good chat-track where Jun-Hwan shows just how
developed his
ideas for the film were, while constantly laughing and joking with Ha-Kyun.
A very good track.
-Original Trailer: In Korean but with no English subs. A cool
trailer, but slightly misleading as
this makes the film look like a screwball comedy.
DISC 2
BEHIND THE SCENES
-CGI Featurette: (14 mins) Shows broken down effects shots as you
would expect.
- Double Vision: (22 mins) Footage of the circus which is briefly
featured in the film.
- Art of The Green Planet: (10 mins) Some of the effects using fake
limbs. This is quite funny
and sheds a lot of light on some of the more squeamish scenes in the
film.
- The Make-Up: (4 mins) Making up scabs, burns, blisters and aliens!
- Stunt Practise: (14 mins) This is painful to watcha s it shows
multiple takes by the stuntmen.
Also shows interviews with actors, all of whom thank their ‘doubles’!
- Soundtrack Featurette: (14 mins) The films composer commentates
over several scenes. A
bit boring but good for completists.
- Days of The Green Planet: (11 mins) Montage of behind the scenes
footage with narration by
Hwang Jeong-Min.
- Hello From The Set: (16 mins) The production team (props, costume,
sound special effects,
etc) reflect and have their say on the production.
INTERVIEWS
- The Directors Room: (6 mins) An interview in th edirectors home,
Jun-Hwan doesn’t really
mention the film but talks more personally showing toys and photographs.
- The Concept: (6 mins) The director / writer discusses his
inspirations for the film, two of them
being a web-site for Leonardo De Capri- haters and the US film ‘Misery’.
Quite amusing.
- On Production: (4 mins) Another interview with the director, also
with the cinematographer
- Korean Premier 2003: (11 mins) Interviews with other Korean
directors and actors, all of
which seem to really like the film. It’s very interesting to see other
filmmakers responses.
- Questions from the Fan Club: (19 mins) Interviews with the three
main cast members intercut
with questions from a Fan Club. Who’s fan club this is isn’t mentioned
but their questions are
a bit crap. Thankfully the actors give interesting answers.
- The Detectives: (7 mins) Interviews with Lee Jae-Yong and Lee Joo-Hyun,
the main detectives
of the film. Jae-Yong is very funny!
- The Aliens: (4 mins) Director and cast discuss the possibility of
Aliens and conclude that the
director is one.
- 2001 Imagine: (5 mins) Jun-Hwan discuss a short film he made for
graduation and its
similarity in themes and ideas to Save The Green Planet. Talk about
covering everything!
DELETED SCENES
(13 mins) These are each introduced by the director who gives the
reasons why each particular scene was removed. They are all
interesting but ultimately the film is definitely better without
them. The scenes are:
- Removing The Penile Ring – A Noise From Below – Detective Chu’s
Death – Byung-Gu and
the Bird - Chu’s Drugs – Byung-Gu’s Pills – Chu’s Discovery – Dog and
Bone – Gu’s Curse
THE LAZY MIRROR – A SHORT FILM BY JEONG JUN-HWANG
(3 mins) This animated short has a commentary by the director. This
very amateurish film was made by Jun-Hwan to gain entry to film
school in the U.S. Again, like the feature ‘The Director’s Room’
this is a very personal affair.
Disc Overall: 9/10 A brilliant disc, what more do you want?
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