Bugonia

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.8/5)

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos

Screenplay by: Will Tracy

Produced by: Ed Guiney p.g.a, Anndrew Lowe p.g.a, Yorgos Lanthimos p.g.a, Emma Stone p.g.a, Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen p.g.a, Miky Le, Jerry Kyongboum Ko

Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alcia Silverstone.

‘It all starts with something,’ narrates Teddy (Jesse Plemons) at the start of, Bugonia.  It’s the beginning of an explanation of a fragile planet.  Of the bees pollinating a third of our food sources.  And then the one to blame for causing the bees’ colonies to collapse: Michelle (Emma Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical bioengineering company.

Michelle is dedicated to being her best with a 4:30am start filled with exercise, vitamins and LED face mask before taking on the world.

She’s one of Them.

Teddy can tell.

He’s on a mission to save humanity.

‘We’re no longer steering the ship. They are,’ Teddy explains to his cousin and the only person he can rely on, Don (Aidan Delbis).

They’re on a regime as well.  To clear their ‘psychic caché’.  To be ready for what come next: the kidnapping of what Teddy has discovered is an alien, here on earth.

His mission, to convince It to take both himself and Don back to the mother ship in four days, when there’s a lunar eclipse – a time when the ship can approach earth undetected.

The countdown begins.

The title, Bugonia refers to an ancient Greek belief in the birth of bees from dead cows – ominous in its misconception, the idea representing Teddy’s focus on the destruction of the bees bringing about the downfall of humanity, layered with the idea of a warranted fear that gets twisted into conspiracy.

The film is a face-off between two equally dedicated characters: Teddy and Michelle.

The dialogue the power struggle between the two as they try to outwit the other.

Teddy has done the research into these hypernormalised capitalists and the mind control industry.  Michelle has a degree in chemistry and psychology, and is formidable even when tied up against her will.

It’s like each has met their match as they navigate the conspiracy of Bugonia, that Michelle is an Andromedan, an alien here to bring about the destruction of humanity.

Based on a Korean sci-fi comedy, Save the Green Planet (2003), Will Tracy wrote the screenplay of, Bugonia during the early days of the pandemic when everyone was locked down waiting to see if the world was going to end.   It’s the writing, the dialogue that is the heart of this film.

And director, Yorgos Lanthimos brings the writing to life.  He explains:

“In the world that we live in now, people live in certain bubbles that have been enhanced by technology,” Lanthimos says. “Having certain ideas about people is reinforced depending on which bubble you live in, creating this big chasm between people. I wanted to challenge the viewer about the things that we’re very certain about, the judgment calls that you make about certain kinds of people. It’s a very interesting reflection of our society and the conflict in our contemporary world.”

The intellectual argument and accusation of, you’re an alien, is an unusual premise.  The storyline follows the dedication and risk weighed, the calculation and thought put into the kidnapping and the entertainment of the film is the ongoing argument of the two personalities played by powerhouses, Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons.

Lanthimos calls Plemons, ‘One of the greatest actors of his generation.  He just brings a complexity that is hard to just put on the page of a script.’

After seeing Plemons’ brutal performance in, Civil War (2024), I have to agree – I was looking forward to seeing, Bugonia because I knew Plemons was playing a lead role.  I was not disappointed.

Lanthimos’ hand can be seen in pushing the concepts, as tone is added with flicks to black and white indicating Teddy’s past.

The film’s based on the perspective of Teddy shown from the point of view of the audience watching, the suspense building as layers of each character is revealed as the film progresses.

Texture is added with the crescendo of a dramatic orchestral soundtrack and images like the unwell floating above while attached to those on the ground by IV tubes.

It’s not an unsettling film, but there are unsettling moments.

The confidence of Michelle and Teddy allows the conspiracy crazy to be digested because it’s discussed like an intellectual debate so it’s interesting to watch rather than disturbing.

A fine line has been walked to get that tone right and I enjoyed watching the unique perspective.