DIRECTOR
Yorgos Lanthimos
Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things, The Favourite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster, Dogtooth

STARS
Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis and Emma Stone

If nothing else, Yorgos Lanthimos’ ninth and most expensive film to date is bound to be one of the more unique ‘alien invasion’ films to be made.

One of the most divisive, or of acquired taste, filmmakers of our time, Lanthimos’ absurdist black comedy Bugonia resolutely recovers from the recent misstep he took co-writing and directing the wretched Kinds of Kindness.

A remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! (Jigureul jikyeora!), Bugonia centres on two conspiracy theorist cousins, Don (Aidan Delbis) and Teddy (Jesse Plemons) who firmly have their minds set on abducting the CEO of pharmaceutical company Auxglith, Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone in her 5th collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos) because they have figured out she does not belong to the human species. Don in particular claims she is linked to sinister plans to ’cause corporate disintegration of people on Earth’ and has only days to prove this before his reality comes to fruition.

What on Earth happened in Teddy’s life for him to enter and fall so deeply into this rabbit hole? What does he believe Michelle is sent here to do and what will actually happen should he be right and she executes her mission as successfully as she has built her way to the top at Auxglith? What exactly does he intend to do along with his accomplice cousin to her once they have her captive?

The answers to all of these questions, and more, are cleverly conceived, well written and engrossingly executed in a movie that delivers deranged darkened comedy and curiously invites thematic interpretations.

As outrageous as Teddy’s line of thought and actions become, the place in which they first formed are more than plausible, they are valid, which devotes important grounding to Bugonia’s premise. I was drawn into deriving certain cryptic messages that may or may not be intended to be perceived from the screenplay and my intellectual interest in the film increased greatly when latching onto one or two. The script writing also grounds the film in stark reality amidst the madness unfolding through Michelle and how she navigates her way through a situation she is never in control of that is as demented as it potentially deadly to her.

Working in the corporate industry myself, I got plenty of enjoyment from seeing how she attempts to transfer her corporate skills and language and apply them to this situation. That’s another great example of how Bugonia succeeds at being a dark comedy. And, as she so always is, four-time Oscar ® nominee and two-time winner Emma Stone is simply marvellous, as is her also Oscar-nominated ® co-star, Jesse Plemons.

Had it not been for such a bewildering ending that pickpockets some of the fun had throughout with it, I could be adding one more star to my rating!

Moviedoc thanks Universal Pictures for the invitation to the screening of this film. 

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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