Bugonia (2025)


I guess I have been missing out on the films of Yorgos Lanthimos, who has become a bit of a popular art film director in recent years.  I remember hearing about The Lobster but never ended up seeing it although it sounds intriguing, as do many of his movies.  I almost gave Bugonia a pass as well.  I'm lukewarm on Emma Stone.  She is one of those celebrities that seems as if she was foisted upon the public by the media, not because of any inherent talent, although she has never been terrible in any role I've seen her in.  Also, I heard early on it was a remake of the Korean film Save the Green Planet!, which I also have not seen.  Hollywood doesn't have a great reputation when remaking foreign films. 

Still, the rest of the cast was intriguing and, although I was sure I knew where the movie was going to go and how it was going to end - in many ways something I was quite right about - I thought it might be interesting to see how it got there.  Bugonia is that, and frustrating at the same time. 

Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) live in an isolated house in a rural town.  Teddy believes that the world is being controlled by beings from the Andromeda galaxy that are enslaving humans through technology and pushing them toward an extinction event in order to colonize the planet.  They plan to kidnap Michelle Fuller (Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical company they believe to be a high-ranking Andromedan.  The goal is to force her to take them aboard her ship during an upcoming lunar eclipse for an audience with their emperor so they can bargain for humanity's survival.

Despite putting up a good fight Fuller is captured, her head shaved and her body covered in antihistamine cream in order to keep her from controlling the cousins and contacting her people.  Over the next three days, as a major search begins for Fuller, Teddy and Don keep her chained in the basement, subjecting her to various tests.  Realizing the situation she is in Michelle begins to work out a means of escape, even if it means playing into Teddy's wild theories. 

Much like Jupiter Ascending this hinges on a number of conspiracy theories and myths being true.  However, unlike that movie, it isn't high camp.  Instead, whether Teddy is right or not, it becomes apparent that he is not the man to save the human race.  His own personal beef with Fuller and her company is that they promised to cure his mother (Alicia Silverstone) of her opioid addiction but only succeeded in making her worse.  It's less a fun take on urban legends and more a conversation about loneliness and obsession.  

Jesse Plemons always plays a good villain and I praise Lanthimos for casting Aidan Delbis instead of having an actor pretend to be neurodivergent.  Stone is solid as usual, the direction is wonderfully photographic and, perhaps in knowing that most of the audience will guess the ending, there are a number of surprises along the way.  Still, the frustrating part is where Lanthimos and screenwriter Will Tracy get too clever.  There are things that are thrown in that don't add anything to the proceedings and, honestly, make no sense, other than to annoy those of us sick of pseudoscientific cult-like behavior or to troll those who fall for it.  It could also be a simple case of overreaching. 

Even so Bugonia manages to be darkly poignant and at times somewhat humorous despite quite a lot of disturbing content, which includes the last five or so minutes which do come as a surprise.  What isn't a surprise is a movie like this getting some attention.  I think this is a sign that the fatigue from the repetitive blockbusters in manifesting in movies like this getting traction once again, and that in itself is refreshing.

Bugonia (2025)
Time: 118 minutes
Starring: Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

 

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