South Korean Cinema: Save the Green Planet!
April 23, 2023
South Korean Cinema: An Unconventional Crash Course
An amateur ufologist hatches an unhinged plot to save the planet from an alien invasion—or maybe the alien prince is really just his boss? Part sci-fi, part black comedy, part horror, part crime drama, Save the Green Planet! is an anarchic, anticapitalist thrill ride of genre-defying shenanigans.
Convinced that evil aliens have infiltrated Earth disguised as human beings, hopped up beekeeper/amateur ufologist Lee Byeong-gu enlists the help of his tightrope-walking girlfriend to kidnap and torture a powerful CEO, determined to make him confess his identity as the alien prince. Will Byeong-gu's plot save the world? Part sci-fi, part black comedy, part horror, part crime drama, Save the Green Planet! is an anarchic, anticapitalist thrill ride of genre-defying shenanigans, veering between utterly unhinged and unexpectedly moving in its critique of neoliberal corporate exploitation. Though panned by audiences at the time of its release, Save the Green Planet! has become rightly adored as a gem of New Korean Cinema and a visionary cult classic.
Content advisory: Gore and violence.
- Director: Joon-Hwan Jang
- Principal Cast: Shin Ha-kyun, Yun-shik Baek, Jung-min Hwang, Jae-yong Lee, Ju-hyeon Lee
- Country: South Korea
- Year: 2003
- Running Time: 118 min.
- Producer: Seoung-Jae Cha, Kim Seon-a
- Screenplay: Joon-Hwan Jang
- Cinematographers: Hong Kyung-pyo
- Editors: Gok-ji Park
- Music: Dong-jun Lee
- Language: Korean
- Has Subtitles: Yes