One of the best movie ever - Jigureul jikyeora! (2003) Discussion

[–] l33td00d123 20 years ago

This was far from 'low-budget' in Korean terms but not a super big budget blockbuster either (kinda in the middle)
but I agree, it was a brilliant film, but the ending should

*SPOLIER*

have stopped before he got on the spaceship. Kang should have looked at his watch and see there was a minute to go and smile or something, just so you can make up your own version of events whether Lee Byeong-gu was just crazy or trying to save the earth. Once again, Ha-kyun Shin delivered an awesome performance, as did Yun-shik Baek.

Who am I, I'm your conscience! Now that blow that *beep* up!

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[–] dasickmonkey 20 years ago

Hey...I don't think the film is a masterpiece. However,I do believe this to be one of the most unique and original films I've seen in a while. Especially for a film with an ACTUAL message! Violence in our societies, man in general and his need for more, and subsequently his self-destructive ways, reference to war....many many themes.

I liked the ending...i think...am not sure when I'd have preferred it to end....as there were several opportunities when it could've quite easily. But....it ended like it did and don't feel it detracted too much from the film.
But...if I were to have a say...I'd probably have left the audience wondering whether or not Kang was an alien or not. As we saw him lay beneath a mass of books...and thus, although unlikely, he could've perhaps digested as much information as possible from the books in order to put forward a convincing front in a bid to escape. But this is a little far-fetched...haha...not that the movie wasn't anyway!

Anyway... good movie I'd rate 7/10 after my 1st viewing. Quite a moving score also made certain parts quite involving, and this only added to the attraction of the film. In addition to some excellent cinematography and several nice special effects...i.e. Lee Byeong-gu's heart jumping following Kang's stompign on his chest. Very cool. And, at the heart of the film are some very firm, even extreme views on the human race and the modern world.

Look forward to seeing more from Jun-hwan Jeong in the future.

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[–] Bernard_Sinew 20 years ago

Yes I'd agree with the ill chimp, Save the Green Planet was a unique film which raises various questions about modern day society and humanity.

Applying Freud's study of psycho-analysis... some other time maybe...

The film is perhaps slightly too long and you could argue that perhaps director Jun-hwan Jeong was influenced in aspects by Miike Takeshi (please don't argue down the road that Miike was merely influenced by the likes of Lynch etc)in certain scenes or the way shots were presented, but Jeong had a specific message that he wanted to put across, maybe at a cost to his film though; an open ending for a film like this only increases the interest in it and potential possibilities.

Sure there are those kind of people who enjoy 'closure' but this can dumb a film down much and leaves little to the audience imagination.

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[–] jonb666 19 years ago

Honestly, I think the ending to the film was perfect, I was guessing most of the way through as to what was really going on, Aliens or just crazy people.

The earth does need destroying, in my opinion, didn't really see it as anti-war, I just saw it as an Anti-human film, didn't bother with pointless sentimony (see Casshern) just got straight to the point, humanity is pointless.

Well isn't this place a geographic oddity. Two weeks from everywhere.

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[–] lindsaymartin123 19 years ago

i agree with jonb666, i thought the ending was great. Leaving the ending open as to whether Kang was an alien or Lee Byeong-gu was crazy could have been a fantastic way to end it and probably more interesting but the very last part where he blows up the earth and says its hopeless was important i think and quite powerful cz its true.

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[–] elpeea 19 years ago

i kinda think the ending was Lee Byeong-gu's last crazy thought before he died. Because he said, " who's going to save the world?"
Maybe he thought the world is gonna end as he is unable to accomplish his task, even though he passed along important information to the young detective.
So the ending part with alien was his version of world after his death. That's the way he sees it. So, yes, he is still crazy.
What do you think?

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[–] halsall69 19 years ago

I agree completely with the web master 'save the green planet' is a masterpiece. However it must be said its not an acknowledged one but hopefully in time it will be. The one thing that Ive never been a big fan of in the movie was the ending but apart from that its great.

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[–] the_punish0r 19 years ago

For me, this is one of the finest films to come out of Asia... or anywhere for that matter, in recent years.

I loved the ending for two reasons;

1.) Throughout the movie i was convinced the guy was crazy. Just looking for a scapegoat so he didn't have to blame himself. I really didn't see the end coming! Also, if it was a nice subtle ending - Kang looking down at his watch or whatever - then silly people, like myself, wouldn't have got it.

2.) "We thought we had to wait until you contacted us?" "Idiot! how could i possibly contact you without my hair?" <<AMAZING line!

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] qosno1 19 years ago

i think the endings still pretty open, i mean at any point the film could have gone inside his mind, the big bang at the end could be the end of his life, u see?

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[–] surfer_rosa 19 years ago

I just watched it last night and I felt the ending was too much of a sudden change and went too far into the realm of silliness while apparently trying to deliver a "serious message".

I had never thought about it taking place in Byung-Goo's head like some people have suggested but that might actually have been the point seeing as it ends with the television floating in space replaying happy moments from his life.

Still I had been really enjoying it up until then but I came away from it feeling like it couldn't really decide on what it wanted to be, like it was a couple of different movies stuck together. The bit with Detective Chu seemed to drag on too long and not really serve any purpose other than to alert the cops to where he was. Anyway, I shouldn't diss it too much cos like I said I was really enjoying it up til the end.

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[–] AlmostHuman13 19 years ago

I just finished watching this film about ten minutes ago. I'll say that yes, it was incredible. Really moving at points. You really are kept on your toes right till the end concerning whether he really is an alien or not. Even when he explains how the whole thing began, you see magazines lying around depicting his story. He could have made it all up just by looking at them. I did like finding out that he was an alien in the end, however i thought the ending did go on a little. If it had cut off on the lines about Earth being hopeless, or possibly even the line about his telepathic hair, i think it would have been more effective than seeing the Earth exploding. A little too much, really. But still, what a movie. I had my doubts at little points throughout, but by the end I knew it was a masterpiece, especially considering its the directors debut film.

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[–] cannygeet 19 years ago

*spoilers* The ending is definately perfect...getting a bit bored of the old 'open ending' trick which is becoming a bit stale. I agree that it also makes the message far more poignant. I thought the point to this film was about human cruelty but more importantly our justification for it. The alien experiments were to give test subjects emotionally difficult lives and see whether they could not be consumed by it.

But I do have a question. I watched this on DVD last night. It got late, i was tired (and a bit freaked). When the earth blows up a TV flies at the screen and as the credits roll do you not see an ALTERNATE life for the protagonist where he enjoys a happy life with his father. Am I totally crazy!?!?

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[–] KichwaTembo 19 years ago

I think that the scenes that played while the credits roll are not an alternate life of the protagonist, but his actual life. I think that it was included to show that the protagonist did have happy moments in his life. Also, I think that the director might be using this montage to give the viewer the idea that the aliens are the cause for the Earth being in the state it was before it was destroyed, but on a personal level.

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[–] jonb666 19 years ago

I think the ending lives up to the title, I see it as a twist on the usual alien invasion film, usually we have Aliens coming to earth to destroy us, I think the director was trying to say that we're destroying the earth ourselves and it is the aliens themselves who are "saving" the green planet, saving it from us, putting it out of it's misery.

That's how I see it, I hate films that have open endings, I take this at face value and it seems to make more sense

Well isn't this place a geographic oddity. Two weeks from everywhere.

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[–] GavAnderson 19 years ago

‘Save the green planet’ is the single craziest film I have ever seen, and I loved it. Its so surreal and you never can tell who to believe, and I think that continues into the ending, as it is impossible to tell weather or not it was imagined.
I couldn’t believe the amount of genres it crosses and how it pulls them all off so perfectly. It can be funny, sad, disturbing, confusing, tense, and outrageous, all in the space of half an hour. The ending defiantly doesn’t let it down, it ends the only way it could have, it was perfect.

Visit my site! www.cinema-korea.com

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[–] bspelten 19 years ago

***SPOILERS***

There were certain things about the ending that i didnt like. I agree with those who say it has a powerful message and such, but blowing the whole earth up just seemed over the top. Perhaps just leaving the earth to destroy itself and allowing the people of earth to take responsibillity for what they had done may have been better. I also thought, throughout the whole explanation scene with the young detective tied up and Kang explaining everything, that Kang had simply read all of Byeong-Gu's research and used that as an explanation so he could go free. But the fact that he was telling the truth added a good twist, i just wished the ending was different.

One more point, to those of you who think that the alien spaceship scene was just in Byeong-Gu's head I think you guys are looking at this as if it were one of Miike's films, especially Ichi the killer. Now i dont want to start going into the story of Miike's movies, but i just think that that sounds a little farfetched.

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[–] eoy 19 years ago

I totaly enjoyed every single part of the movie! I've never laughed so much, or felt so much pain, amusement and horror. This movie has everything, and it's put to gether in a so obscen way that still amazes me.

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[–] static_soulfood 19 years ago

The ending was perfect. I would've gotten pretty angry if it had finished with one of those "open-to the imagination" endings. They are not always necessary, and do not enhance a movie. It was pretty obvious that he was an alien, and the meaning that was meant to be taken from the movie was rooted in Kang's history and the main character's entire reason for trying to kill him. If it had turned into another "imagination/hallucination/multiple personalities/schizophrenic" movies, it would have been a cop-out, plain and simple, and I would have felt ripped off. That is most likely what would have happened if this film were made by an American.

Best movie ever?
I think so.

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[–] HiPlainsDrifter 19 years ago

I loved this film,i can't wait to see what Jun-hwan Jeong will do next.I didn't really see a problem with the ending i think it was necessary to establish that Kang WAS the alien prince that Lee thought was arriving on earth.Although a few people have mentioned it i don't think enough people seem to relise that the aliens were not the enemy but mankind and more importantly Lee Byeong-gu.He starts the film as the villan and ends the film as the villan.If he hadn't of tortured Kang would the earth have been destroyed?

Egypt is soooooo boring,i mean it doesn't even exist.You don't hear DMX rapping about it!

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[–] hayman42 19 years ago

Best movie ever? Not sure, but it is without a doubt one of the most inventive and unique films I've seen. It's thrilling, it's smart, it's funny, it's inventive... this is the kind of experience a movie should be. And the ending... (not that spoilers seem to matter at this point in the thread, but...)

I wasn't sure about the reveal of the spaceship at first, but when they then blew up the earth, I was sold. Like other folks said, that makes the point of the movie. Also, I have to give credit to any filmmaker who can logically lead his story to the point where you need to blow up earth for resolution. That's just awesome.

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[–] iKwak 19 years ago

Incredible plot and theme! Two hours well spent.
I need to recommend this movie to others.

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[–] TchnoSurfer 19 years ago

I do think the ending was in his head. The filmmakers make a large point that he takes a lot of amphetimenes, which deprives you of sleep. As he gradually lost more touch with reality he lost sight of the joy in his life and dwelled only on the horror. I think the end of the earth is his final hallucination and the scenes on the television are his life passing before his eyes as it actually happend.

I think his girlfriend is a key indicator of his addiction. She loves him and is willing to be with him until she really sees how far gone he is. The only reason she goes back is something tells her he is in trouble and she can't leave him to confront it alone. Also the constant imagery of him taking the drugs especially the finaly drug scene of his mother raining it down on him to fuel the final illusion.

I do think a lot of the film is about man's inhumanity to man and what may lead one to do such things. I know this sounds cheesy but I think its a glass half empty, glass half full type things is it over when the credits roll or after?

p.s.- I love the haunting string piece that plays throughout the movie and over the credits, if anyone could find this please let me know I want it.

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[–] Blam_Mel 19 years ago

I really enjoyed this movie, easily the best recent film I've seen in awhile.

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[–] DirtyGrainius 19 years ago

Umm, Yeah, except he was dead, and couldn't see outside of that office, and he was not directly or physically connected to the scene in any way, except that he dies when the earth is destroyed.

Everyone who thought he was crazy and psychotic and fuelled by pills, added to the world getting destroyed. that was the whole point of the ending. If you want a longer explanation, just ask, but the message was pretty self-evident.

"....Not Only Was It Authentic Frontier Jibberish..."

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[–] dean_98_6 18 years ago

Im an australian, and i live in australia, how would i get this flick on dvd?

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[–] huydini 18 years ago

this is not an alien movie. Remember when he imagined kicking that bully's ass? Same with the ending. IT'S IN HIS HEAD.

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[–] static_soulfood 18 years ago

IT'S NOT IN HIS HEAD. Stop ruining the movie for others by spouting new-wave-MTV-Generation's-thinking-film BS. Not every director in the world is David Fincher or Richard Kelly nor wants to be. This movie is unique because it doesn't fall into the now sub-genre of "it's in his head/multiple personalities" movies. If it had, I would've been very disappointed. Just remember that this was made by a truly talented KOREAN filmaker, not an American film-school jerkoff with the next great idea for an INSANE dual-personalities twist ending.

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[–] TchnoSurfer 18 years ago

Um it isn't about dual personalities is is about a meth abusing unstable guy with a very tramatic life. After the world is destroyed we are given the chance to see his life the good and the bad and how he was unable to reconcile the two. To say that this is the more infantile ending is kind of funny considering if you take it the other way is just what happend happend. Also throughout the movie there are clues, his movie collection, homages to other films. Also his girlfriend who at one point chooses to leave his fantasy world and go back to real life. It is only when she chooses to accept the fantasy that she pays a heavy price. I really think it is about the dangerous line between fantasy and reality.

Or it could just be that his ceo is an alien and he destroyed the earth which to me makes the movie a bit less interesting and meaningfull. Hey that is just me though.

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[–] webmistress-1 18 years ago

I think the drugs are a red herring ... similar to Donnie Darko. (And by the way, it's unfair to lump Richard Kelly into the MTV School of New Age filmmaking ... he had to release an artless version of Donnie Darko just to convince audiences that the story was "real" and not imagined.)

I accept the ending at face value ... the captive was an alien all along (there are several clues dropped throughout the film that would lead you to this conclusion ... the fact he doesn't die is the biggest clue). I take it that had the alien not been captured, the earth wouldn't have been destroyed ... the fact that the main character had become even more sadistic than his perceived tormentors is what convinced the alien captive that the world was not worth saving.

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[–] solyarisz 18 years ago

i agree with you seamossmcchav here: "Everyone who thought he was crazy and psychotic and fuelled by pills, added to the world getting destroyed. that was the whole point of the ending."

somewhere along the film i let go of my critical eye and just let myself get absorbed by the film. this is when sympathy for Byung developed, and felt satisfying payback in his favour when his outlandish theory proves to be true (yes, according to my own interpretation).

i am convinced the director's plan was to lure the audience into thinking of Byung as a poor, traumatized and above all 'crazy s.o.b.' only to make us realize it is this way of reasoning that leads to the destruction of Earth.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] drunknmunky112 18 years ago

Yeah I agree, the film is brilliant but I don't know whether i'd call i a masterpiece-yet. As for the best film out of Korea for a while, i'm not so sure because im still hooked on Old boy, but this film is definately one of these fresh and new totally original films, which I think we need once in a while. It also suprised me-I did expect that the film would be as moving and powerful as it turned out to be, and having an impact on us and the world we live in, and as you people have said, what a great way to end such a film like this, yeah this film is very, very good.

<Takeshi Kitano is a genius>

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] flix-9 18 years ago

"About the ending. At first it doesnt seem to live up to the class of the rest of the film. But when you think about it, it just sums it up really. I like the fact they didnt leave it open ended, as I felt it made you feel sympathy for Byeong-gu, since you now know he isnt crazy. Obviously, most people would feel sympathy during his diary scene, but if it was left at the end that he could have been crazy, then there wouldnt be as much sympathy for him. "

Sorry to disappoint you, but the point of the film is that he's crazy. The ending didn't happen.

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[–] yfguitarist 18 years ago

This is one of my favorite movies. I just finished it and I loved it. It was sad and funny and violent. If ONLY they had left the ending before we find out there really are aliens, it would be perfect. I would have much rather enjoyed the tragic ending.

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[–] flix-9 18 years ago

"This is one of my favorite movies. I just finished it and I loved it. It was sad and funny and violent. If ONLY they had left the ending before we find out there really are aliens, it would be perfect. I would have much rather enjoyed the tragic ending."

How can you people let go of your reading of the film so easily? You think everything you saw up until that point is meaningless because of the last five minutes?

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[–] yfguitarist 18 years ago

Like I said, it's still one of my favorite movies. I'm just going to turn it off before the last 5 minutes.

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[–] TracesOfLove 18 years ago

The whole point of the ending was that Byung-goo Lee was trying to save the planet but ended up being the main reason for its' demise. The Prince wanted the experiments in hopes of humans proving them wrong that humans could overcome their 'eye for an eye' mentality. Byung-goo Lee showed the aliens the opposite by torturing Kang, who turned out to be the only alien with the tiniest confidence in the human race. And the power to save them. I think that with the human race's track record, the Prince would have still have destroyed mankind. No matter whether Byung-goo Lee had learned to appreciate the good things in life or not because I'm sure the majority of those experiments would have failed as well. But the fact that Byung-goo Lee failed so horribly I think was what caused the Prince to just blow-up the Earth entirely!

Cousin Cheryl, I don't think the family REALLY knows you.

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[–] oddly_world 18 years ago

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pure, effing genuis!

BLOCKBUSTER RE-MAKES SUCK! LONG LIVE ORGINAL EAST-ASIAN FILMS!

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] TeaDrinking 18 years ago

yeh, it made my top 20 pretty quick. Without doubt one of the most original films I've ever seen. Deserves to be praised as much as Oldboy but it's the perfect cult flm.

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[–] HiPlainsDrifter 15 years ago

I don't get it, the ending sums up the point of the movie.

Egypt is soooooo boring,i mean it doesn't even exist.You don't hear DMX rapping about it!

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