A shrewd, misanthropic spiral into madness

By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter

Movie Review
Bugonia
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

WHILE it’s long been said that it’s best to go into a Yorgos Lanthimos film totally blind, Bugonia is perhaps the one where this applies to the most. So take that as a warning before reading further.

The film follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. It’s exactly what you’d expect from the Greek director — deadpan yet caricaturish, brightly colored and violent, and so comically absurd.

It is the fourth of his recent black comedies (The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness) to star Emma Stone. Here, she is Michelle Fuller, the top executive of pharmaceutical company Auxolith, and her performance hits all the notes of a ruthlessly corporate woman leader. Opposite her is Jesse Plemons (who was also in Kinds of Kindness) as disturbed conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz, a man so compelling yet volatile as he hurriedly executes his masterplan to unmask the alien plot to end the Earth.

While their performances are easily worth the buzz in the realm of acting awards, newcomer Aidan Delbis, as Teddy’s intellectually disabled cousin Don, must be mentioned for holding his own. This is the character that provides an unlikely heart to this unhinged tale, and it’s great that Lanthimos found an actor to play him who is not only on the autism spectrum, but also really able to express the character’s tragedy distinctly well.

The downside of going into Bugonia completely blind is simple — you wouldn’t know that this is actually a remake of a South Korean film from 2003 titled Save the Green Planet!, directed by Jang Joon-hwan. This explains why Korean production company CJ Entertainment appears in the credits and in promotional materials. According to those who have watched the original, Lanthimos’ take is actually not as crazy, believe it or not.

A strength of this film is how it utilizes a cast of actors at their peak. What Lanthimos brings, aside from the big-budget, whimsical absurdity that has marked the visuals and technical aspects of his films ever since he came to Hollywood, is his ability to bring a palpable milieu to life.

Like in his previous films, this imbues darkly comedic touches to disturbed, unsettling atmospheres that culminate in cruel reveals in the story. Bright colors and wide-angle or fish-eye lenses are back, but are not as distracting, befitting a tale that feels somewhat realer than his usual.

Stone is a beast. She easily handled the required shifts in power dynamics across the entire piece, from girlboss to victim to cunning prisoner to… something else. Plemons is an equally monstrous talent and a perfect fit in his tragic sympathetic-pathetic role. The two actors execute a lot of hilariously (and cleverly filmed!) scenes together, the cinematography and editing matching in step with their characters’ specific arcs.

Bugonia pulls so well from the hyper-aware, paranoid, hopelessly corporate, and conspiracy-obsessed milieu of today, that it’s disappointing when it teeters inconsistently between gruesomely shocking the audiences and offering a genuine contemplation on humanity — though I’ve noticed that people who watched the original agree that this adaptation is not violent as the first nor insane enough.

With that said, this remains a memorable film that is overall best enjoyed if you just surrender yourself to the wild ride and be spiraled along into the bleak and bizarre depths.