Bugonia
Pharmaceutical CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is trying to right her corporate ship after some kind of incident, recording a video about making the world a better place and instructing her assistant to issue an email telling folks it's OK to leave work at 5:30 (with the insinuation that it's not really OK). Meanwhile local beekeeper Teddy (Jesse Plemons) is convinced she is responsible for everything from Colony Collapse Disorder to his mother's (Alicia Silverstone) vegetative state, her ship not corporate but a mothership from Andromeda, and he's cornered his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) into a plot to kidnap the woman he believes is an alien in "Bugonia."
Laura's Review: B
Much of how you react to director Yorgos Lanthimos' ("Dogtooth," "Poor Things") latest will depend on whether you have seen Jang Joon-Hwan's "Save the Green Planet!," the 2003 Korean film adapted by Will Tracy, as a lot of the film's pleasures are derived from the third act's unexpected hairpin turns. Rather than a wholesale reimagining, "Bugonia" is a fairly faithful remake, different only in cultural aspects and character genders. So, take away the element of surprise and what do you have left? Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons going toe to toe in compellingly contrasting performances. Still, having seen the original Korean film, "Bugonia" proved somewhat underwhelming, a Lanthimos trend since his "Poor Things" adaptation.
The film begins with the plight of bees, who are dying off and abandoning their queens, impacting humankind who rely on them for one third of its food supply. Teddy is convinced beyond a doubt that aliens are trying to destroy us, his copious research so thorough he's modeled their mothership on his laptop and believes they can make contact during the lunar eclipse four days away. In order to avoid potential honeypot distractions, Teddy's chemically castrated himself and convinces Don, who'd hoped to experience a romantic relationship, to do the same. Then they set off on bicycles to lie in wait at Fuller's house, but not before Teddy's stopped by the local Sheriff, who, it turns out, is his former babysitter Casey (Stavros Halkias), a man with a guilty conscience who hopes to stop in for a visit sometime.
After a comically inept kidnapping, Michelle proving to be a more formidable target than anticipated, the duo chain her in their basement, Teddy instructing Don to shave her head, believing she communicates with her ship via her hair. She's also slathered with antihistamine cream to dull her powers and when she awakens, a battle of wills ensues, Michelle's corporate, manipulative slickness vying with Teddy's delusional but strongly held beliefs. As they debate, more and more of Teddy's unfortunate history is revealed, including his mother's tragic fate due to Auxolith's opioid withdrawal trial. Unable to break Fuller, Teddy resorts to torture, shaking Don's resolve just as Casey shows up to see how Teddy's doing.
In addition to adapting "Save the Green Planet!," Lanthimos tries (in the press notes) to retrofit its themes to reflect today's information bubbles, positioning Michelle and Teddy as opposing sides unable to consider another's point of view, but that's a bit of a stretch, the original intent ecological, which still works here. The second Oscar hopeful to have been shot in Vista Vision (by "Poor Things" cinematographer Robbie Ryan) largely features faces as its landscapes and Stone's, Plemons' and Delbis' communicate beyond their words, but so does Teddy's family home, reflective of the American Heartland but built in the UK by production designer James Price ("Poor Things"). Costume designer Jennifer Johnson gives Stone a corporate uniform of blue suit, white shirt and sky high Louboutin heels, taking away her agency by putting her in flowery dresses from Teddy's home closets once she's captured, Teddy and Don, conversely, donning rumpled suits also found there to project serious intent, but makes a questionable choice in the film's last act. Composer Jerskin Fendrix ("Poor Things") uses heavy synth chords to establish impending doom, later lightening with violins for more emotional scenes.
Focus Features releases "Bugonia" in theaters on 10/24/25.
