Bugonia (15)

Beekeeper Teddy Gatz has spent years identifying markers that reveal if someone is truly human or an otherworldly interloper known as an Andromedan. His studies spotlight Michelle Fuller, CEO of pharmaceutical company Auxolith, as a parasitic invader. Aided by his sweet-natured cousin Don, Teddy kidnaps Michelle from outside her home and holds her captive in his basement. They shave off her hair and torture Michelle ahead of the forthcoming lunar eclipse.

LondonNet Film Review

Bugonia (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone began their wildly imaginative creative collaboration with acid-tongued period comedy The Favourite, which deservedly garnered them individual Oscar nominations as Best Director and Best Supporting Actress. They intensified the wonderful weirdness in Poor Things, which earned Stone her second golden statuette as Best Actress (after La La Land), and the pair kept pushing narrative boundaries in the twisted triptych, Kinds Of Kindness…

Director and actor shoot for the stars – figuratively and literally – in the unabashedly bonkers black comedy Bugonia about a nature-loving conspiracy theorist, who is convinced that aliens live among us on Earth. Jesse Plemons delivers an electrifying performance as this mentally unstable warrior, who goes to extreme lengths to prove his outlandish theory by abducting, interrogating and torturing innocent strangers who he asserts carry the hallmarks of ETs in disguise.

Stone gamely shaved her head for her eye-catching role as his latest target and she is utterly fearless in physically and emotionally demanding scenes of psychological warfare and manipulation to secure her freedom. Will Tracy’s script, based on Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 film Save The Green Planet!, pitches a curveball in the closing 15 minutes that will sharply divide audiences. I appreciated the full-throttled audacity and boldness.

Beekeeper Teddy Gatz (Plemons) has spent years identifying markers that reveal if someone is truly human or an otherworldly interloper known as an Andromedan. His studies identify Michelle Fuller (Stone), CEO of pharmaceutical company Auxolith, as a parasitic invader. Aided by his sweet-natured cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), Teddy kidnaps Michelle from outside her home and holds her captive in his basement. They shave off her hair and torture Michelle ahead of the forthcoming lunar eclipse, when Teddy is convinced an Andromedan mothership will enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Michelle rejects Teddy’s wild assertions and begs to be released, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. Consequently, she changes tack and pretends to be a high-ranking member of the Andromedan royal family in the hope that feeding her captor’s delusion will allow her to escape. Meanwhile, local police officer Casey (Stavros Halkias) investigates Michelle’s kidnapping and Teddy’s mother Sandy (Alicia Silverstone), who was a test subject for one of Auxolith’s experimental drugs, languishes in a coma at the company’s expense.

Bugonia is a wicked and wild ride that falls short of the brilliance of The Favourite and Poor Things but still boasts two of the best performances you will see all year. Plemons and Stone are expertly matched and the shifting power dynamic of their on-screen relationship is riveting. Lanthimos will never be a filmmaker who shies away from discomfort and despair and this latest work shipwrecks up in that bittersweet spot.

– Jo Planter