7/10
Bugonia, the 10th feature film from two-time Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos, is both tense and relentless. Adapted from the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet, it’s a psychological thriller that blends elements of horror, comedy, and suspense into one two hour package. Each turn is unexpected. Every scene keeps you guessing. Is this all an elaborate joke, or is someone about to get their head blown off?
The film follows Teddy (Jesse Plemons), a small-town conspiracy theorist, and his sweet, loyal cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Teddy is convinced that aliens called “Andromedans” are secretly ruining Earth, (for some reason). He fixates his attention on Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a powerful Big Pharma CEO he believes is an alien in disguise. Convinced she can lead him to her spaceship, he kidnaps her and holds her in his basement, hoping to negotiate with an alien court and save the world. Teddy blames Michelle’s company for his mother’s debilitating reaction to an addiction-treatment drug, and his resentment fuels his delusions. Stone plays Michelle as sharp, cunning, and resourceful—a businesswomen who will use every tool she has to survive. Plemons makes Teddy both terrifying and tragically deluded, while Delbis adds warmth and much-needed comic relief.
While Bugonia is certainly interesting and expertly crafted, it isn’t exactly enjoyable. It’s hard to love a film where no one is worth rooting for—the two main characters are ruthless and willing to do monstrous things to get what they want. Certain moments, especially in the film’s back half, are genuinely disturbing. In a desperate attempt to buy herself time to escape, Michelle tells Teddy she has the cure to his mother’s serious medical condition in a container of Antifreeze in her car (seems pretty obvious, I know). Teddy rushes over to the hospital to give his mother the cure. When he arrives, he injects the “cure” into her IV and kills her. Turns out, it really was Antifreeze.
Lanthimos’ direction is single-mindedly focused on tension, using dramatic visuals, jarring sound cues, and massive orchestral swells to keep views on edge. The script also leans into stiff, pointed dialogue and dry humor. One running joke: Teddy convinces Don to get chemically castrated so they can “stay focused” on their mission. Much of the film’s strength lies in the verbal sparring between Teddy and Michelle. The two could not be more different—Michelle is an authoritative powerful CEO and Teddy is a nobody who spends most of his time absorbed in crazy conspiracy theories about Aliens. Stone and Plemons play this dynamic well with a certain sharpness that keeps their scenes electric.
The film’s first half is much more lighthearted and comical, but as the story deepens, the tone grows much darker. By the second act, the long stretches of dialogue become a bit monotonous, and the momentum falls.
While Bugonia is interesting and well made, it’s not an easy watch. With no truly sympathetic characters, it’s hard for audiences to invest in anyone’s fate. In a lot of ways, Bugonia feels like a twisted nightmare. It almost demands two seperate ratings: one for its technical quality, and another for how enjoyable the watching experience was.
The film’s alien metaphor comments on power, paranoia, and societal fractures. The Andromedans represent everything Teddy believes is destroying the world—an embodiment of the powerful crushing the powerless. Through connections between Michelle, Teddy, and Don, the film gestures toward topics like mental illness, the opioid epidemic, and conspiracy-driven echo chambers. Still, the commentary remains surface-level, never diving as deeply as it could. The film’s final moments provide a solemn yet darkly hopeful statement on humankind overall.
Bugonia is a worthwhile watch, even if you walk away feeling just as unhinged as its characters, and maybe with a few nightmares of your own.
PS: the film’s last 10 minutes might leave you soulless and empty.
