Bugonia
★★★ 1/2
Bugonia is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and at this point I feel like every review of one of his films requires a disclaimer right up top. If you’re even mildly curious about a Lanthimos movie, you should know this going in: you’re signing up for a head trip. His films exist in a universe all their own—absurd, funny, unsettling and often terrifying in ways that sneak up on you. He delights in subverting genre, tone and expectation, sometimes all within the same scene.
That said, I’m always on board for whatever wild journey he’s about to take us on, even while fully acknowledging that his work is very much not for everyone.
By now, jokes have practically become part of the discourse about Emma Stone being his muse, but Bugonia also further cements Jesse Plemons as a crucial Lanthimos collaborator. After seeing their chemistry in Kinds of Kindness, I was excited to watch them go head-to-head again here. That excitement pays off almost immediately.
Plemons plays Teddy, a deeply isolated loner whose paranoia, anxiety and self-styled “research” have convinced him that the CEO of the company he works for, Michelle (Emma Stone) is actually an alien. With the help of his cousin Donnie (Aidan Delbis), he kidnaps her, and what unfolds from there is what keeps the film gripping. The tension isn’t just what they plan to do with her, but why they believe they’re justified in doing it.
Lanthimos is very clearly dissecting our current culture of online conspiracy, pseudo-expertise and the dangerous confidence that comes from “doing your own research.” Teddy is both ridiculous and frightening, a character fueled by grievance, paranoia and a system that has undeniably failed him. At times, you empathize with his frustration. At others, you recoil from how far he’s willing to take it.
Stone’s Michelle is equally fascinating. She’s sharp, biting and seemingly unremorseful, even when her words suggest otherwise. Her CEO-polished language, strategic empathy and negotiation skills feel less human than corporate-manufactured, and the film smartly positions her as both victim and symbol. Watching her spar verbally with Plemons is the film at its best: funny, insightful and genuinely unsettling. One character spouts conspiracy rhetoric; the other counters with perfectly calibrated corporate speech.
The dialogue throughout Bugonia is razor-sharp, and Lanthimos once again proves how skilled he is at extracting incredible performances from his cast. The movie is consistently entertaining, and you never quite know where it’s headed, which is half the fun.
That said, this isn’t upper-tier Lanthimos for me.
While the individual scenes and exchanges are often riveting, the film eventually starts to feel repetitive and a bit cumbersome by the end. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching an extended episode of The Twilight Zone. A very well-made one, to be clear, but still one that maybe overstayed its welcome.
Whitney watched this with me, and she (someone far less familiar with Lanthimos’ work) was completely on board until the very end. I’m still sitting with how I feel about it. Lanthimos takes a big swing, as he always does, and whether or not he pulls it off will ultimately come down to the viewer.
It just received a Best Picture nomination, and while I don’t think it quite reaches that territory for me, Bugonia is undeniably one of the year’s standout films. It may not be what Lanthimos is most remembered for, but even a “lesser” Lanthimos film still feels more daring, more thoughtful and more cinematic than most of what we get in a given year.
And honestly? That’s still pretty impressive.
