Blame has always been a part of how our societies work. When people begin questioning their leaders instead of accepting their mistakes, these leaders shift the blame to immigrants, minorities, or anyone seen as different. This is exactly what Yorgos Lanthimos’ newest film, Bugonia, explores, taking viewers through today’s conspiracy-driven, grifter-filled culture and pushing it to its most absurd extreme.
Bugonia follows the story of two cousins, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis), who kidnap a pharmaceutical company CEO named Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) because they believe she’s secretly an alien from a planet called Andromeda. The film is based on a 2003 South Korean movie called Save the Green Planet, adapted for the screen by Will Tracy.
Visually, the film leans toward a simpler, more restrained style compared to some of Lanthimos’ other work, functioning largely as a tense and character-driven film. But true to be told, Lanthimos still finds room to experiment using brief black-and-white sequences and his now-signature fisheye lens, a technique he fell in love with while making The Favourite. Shot mostly on 35mm VistaVision film, the movie’s bright, vivid look creates an unusual contrast against what might be one of Lanthimos’s darkest stories yet, second only to The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
None of this would work without strong performances, and Lanthimos clearly knew who to cast. Emma Stone, who picked up her fifth Oscar nomination for this role, has been one of Hollywood’s most fearless actors since winning Best Actress for La La Land back in 2017. For this film, she went as far as shaving her head completely for the role of Michelle, a commitment that says a lot about how far she’s willing to go for a character. Jesse Plemons matches her intensity on the opposite side of the story. Known for his role in Breaking Bad, The Power of the Dog, and Game Night. Plemons may have delivered his best performance yet here. He reportedly lost 50 pounds for the role, and that physical transformation adds real weight to Teddy’s character, a man consumed by extreme online ideology and conspiracy thinking who ends up pulling his cousin down with him.
Bugonia has split critics right down in the middle. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman praised it as a sharp, clever look at opposing mindsets in modern society, while Time’s Stephanie Zacharek felt the film’s message came across as mean and repetitive. Both reactions make sense as Lanthimos has never been a filmmaker for everyone, and that’s part of what makes him interesting. Bugonia isn’t an easy watch, but for those willing to laugh along as things fall apart, it’s one of his sharpest, most rewarding films to date.
