Film Review: Bugonia

Yorgos Lanthimos is the definition of a niche filmmaker, not only that but he is always making films that the Academy loves as you’ll end up seeing the majority of his work at the film awards season circuit. The Favourite, Poor Things and The Killing of a Sacred Deer all prove this fact. Unlike other filmmakers Lanthimos leans much more into absurdity than others do. The closest comparison to make would be with Guillermo Del Toro. They both prefer practical effects, unique styles and subvert genre expectations. Lanthimos has been hard at work the past few years delivering some outstanding films and his latest film has just been released in cinema’s and that film is Bugonia.

Bugonia is an adaption of a 2003 South Korean film, but western audiences are not likely to know the source material so in many ways it feels pretty original. The concept may feel a little more mainstream when compared to Lanthimos’ other works. The idea is that two Beekeepers are conspiracy obsessed and believe that aliens are among us. To prove their point they kidnap a highly powerful CEO of a pharmaceutical company and attempt to find out her plans on Earth.

Emma Stone has been a favourite of Lanthimos for a while now, with the both of them collaborating on the past three projects and they work incredibly well together. Stone plays Michelle Fuller, the person who is kidnapped. Jesse Plemons plays one of the kidnappers with Aidan Delbis playing his cousin in the film; Teddy and Don. What follows is a character-driven deep dive into the psyche of these characters as they attempt to convince each other what is real and what isn’t real, which in turn makes audiences doubt everyone and makes us decide who to believe as well. This is where the fun lies in the film, we are constantly going from believing Teddy to believing Michelle. The balancing act between Plemons and Stone is a real highlight as both provide some great acting and killer performances.

The film goes down the rabbit hole further when Michelle attempts to use Teddy’s naivety to convince him she might be an alien. Not only that there’s a former friend of Teddy’s who is now a polite and kind police officer who wants to re-connect with him and is also assisting in the case of the missing CEO. There are many turning parts in the film and you never really know what is going to happen or what the characters are capable of. The film is incredibly unpredictable and the scriptwriting, strange music and pitch-perfect direction all help to support the narrative.

I won’t spoil the ending of the film, but it goes down two different paths. You think you know what is going to happen and it is literally the last five minutes where you find out the truth and by that point you start to doubt your own beliefs of what is going on. This is a Lanthimos film though and his style is all over it. He will never truly make a mainstream film but this film is the closest he will ever get, the problem with that is that the ending won’t be to everyone’s satisfaction and some people may not enjoy his style. Much like the film, the style is unique and wild and you will have an entertaining watch.

★★★★☆

4/5

Final Verdict:

Lanthimos has crafted a story that will more than likely getting picked on at the next film awards season. Both Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone provide some great acting work and are formidable against each other in some key scenes. The conspiracy plot line works well with a lot of mystery and a lot of questions that need asking. We get a lot of backstory behind each of the characters to understand Teddy’s motives, but by the end of the film some of his character choices end up being less than satisfactory. It is another great film from everyone involved and it is also a film that will stay with you for a while after as well, in a good way that is.

Thanks for reading today’s blog!

Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions