Bugonia

BUGONIA (15)

D: Yorgos Lanthimos

Focus Features / Element / Square Peg / CJ ENM / Pith / Fruit Tree Enterprises (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen, Miky Lee & Jerry Kyoungboum Ko)

US/UK/Ire/S Korea 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇮🇪🇰🇷 2025

118 mins

Comedy/Drama/Thriller/Science Fiction

W: Will Tracy [based on the screenplay “Save the Green Planet!“ by Jang Joon-Hwan]

DP: Robbie Ryan

Ed: Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Mus: Jerskin Fendrix

Emma Stone (Michelle Fuller), Jesse Plemons (Teddy Gatz), Aidan Delbis (Don), Alicia Silverstone (Sandy Gatz), Stavros Halkias (Casey Boyd)

*SPOILERS*

It goes without saying that director Yorgos Lanthimos has a style of his own. Bizarre, quirky, unorthodox, original films, and the same can be said about this genre-bending remake of a lesser-known South Korean film (Save the Green Planet).

The plot follows a paranoid conspiracy theorist who, along with his cousin, abducts a high-profile CEO, convinced that she is part of an alien race who are targeting humans for extinction.

The best scenes in the film revolve around the dialogue between the two leads, which is exceptionally well written, and the exocentric style and black comedy laced throughout the movie takes a plot which you wouldn’t think will work and turns it into a gripping narrative.

The eventual twist is an obvious one, but it unfolds in way that causes much afterthought, so I wouldn’t call it an obvious twist, in fact, it’s a really clever one.

Emma Stone got much of the plaudits, including an Oscar nomination for her performance, and whilst she is great, it’s Jesse Plemons’ work which really deserved the recognition.

A strange film, but in a really good way.

8/10