Bugonia (2025)- BFI London Film Festival 2025

Review

120min

Genre:       Comedy, Crime, Sci-fi

Director:    Yorgos Lanthimos

Cast:         Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis…and more

Writers:     Will Tracy and Jang Joon-hwan

-Synopsis-

Tired of scraping a living whilst harbouring resentments and very personal bizarre conspiracy theories about the rich and powerful, a pair of lowly eccentric American cousins hatch a scheme to kidnap a fierce and influential female bio-tech CEO whom they’re convinced is an alien with dastardly plans for the world, only for things to take a dark surrealist turn when they go through with it in this latest idiosyncratic dark dramedy from the director of ‘The Lobster’ and ‘Poor Things’.

In the midst of the most prolific period of his filmmaking career culminating in his third feature film release in less than two years, director and “Greek Weird Wave” pioneer Yorgos Lanthimos re-unites with his muse, star and co-producer Emma Stone to adapt 2003 South Korean satire ‘Save the Green Planet!’, applying his unique cinematic sensibilities and penchant for dark humour to deliver his latest quirky black comedy concoction, and wacky subversive study of a planet in peril.

Jesse Plemons stars as Georgia warehouse worker ‘Teddy Gatz’, a quirky and troubled conspiracy theorist and beekeeper with a difficult past living in his rural family home with his neurodivergent cousin ‘Don’ (Aidan Delbis), a sweet and impressionable young man looking for guidance and care from his obsessive and determined older cousin, and drawn into his plan to save humanity from its greatest threat—a supposed race of advanced aliens disguised as powerful humans, with nefarious plans for mankind. But things soon become dark and wacky after they find a target and put their plans into action when they forcefully capture ‘Michelle Fuller’ (Emma Stone)—a powerful and uncompromising pharma-tech CEO whom they believe is a ruling member of the hidden alien race holding the world captive—only for her captivity and their scheme to take a bleak and unexpectedly personal turn for their family . . . and a surrealist twist which changes life as we know it.

It’s perhaps no surprise that after making a name for himself with darkly comical and offbeat fare like ‘Dogtooth’ and ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’, it was his shift into more traditional cinema with 2018 British historical period piece ‘The Favourite’ which brought Lanthimos his biggest mainstream success, before following it up by returning to the weird and wonderful with 2023’s gloriously bizarre and strikingly saucy rebirth and female emancipation odyssey ‘Poor Things’, then taking a transatlantic detour with last year’s ‘Kinds of Kindness’. But now the Greek visionary stays stateside and brings us perhaps his most accessible film to date, considerably toning down the droll deadpan humour and dialogue which defined his cinematic style and garnered a loyal fanbase, but also split general audiences and made him an acquired taste.

Make no mistake though ‘Bugonia’ is still odd and morbidly funny to a fault, featuring plenty of quirky comedy and farcical humour with the inane and leftfield conversations to match, but with an ominous atmosphere which hangs heavy in the air above it, and a mood set by a dark, dramatic and occasionally dissonant score from now regular Lanthimos collaborator Jerskin Fendrix (Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness), adeptly juxtaposed with a soundtrack of upbeat pop and folk music.

As usual Lanthimos also manages to dazzle the audience visually, employing his customary creative camerawork with an array of inventive shots ranging from low angles and extreme closeups to long tracking shots and the occasional fish-eye lens, all captured in smooth and slick style in a narrow and very personal aspect ratio by his regular cinematographer Irishman Robbie Ryan (Poor Things, The Favourite).

Staying true to Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean movie which this film Americanizes, ‘Bugonia’ is very much a satirical dark character comedy and arguably Lanthimos’ most overtly socially conscious film to date—expressed through the prism of trauma, mental illness and conspiracy theories—as the director and screenwriter Will Tracy pull no punches in skewering modern American corporate culture and tech industry arrogance, as well as US government corruption and bureaucracy. They also take aim at alternative fact enthusiasts and online conspiracy theorists, along with their predecessors like the David Ickes of the world, before subverting this with a big final twist.

At its heart though ‘Bugonia’ is driven by an environmentalist and humanitarian message about mankind’s effect on the world and our failing custodianship of the planet, as well as our questionable behaviour towards each other, unfolding through an unpredictable plot with a major final twist and a sting in the tail. There’s also no missing the bee theme running through the story, with their plight presented as a canary in the coalmine for the natural world’s fate, as the pollinating insects serve as the film’s ecological mascot and indeed give the film its title, which is a Greek word for an ancient Mediterranean bee myth.

Despite a small supporting cast ‘Bugonia’ is essentially a three-hander which relies on the efforts of its three stars to bring it to life, led by the always dependably excellent Jesse Plemons as a stoic yet intense and troubled young man, obsessive and manipulative and taking a bizarre yet fateful path to deal with family trauma and resentment, leading on his naïve and vulnerable cousin played with charm and grace by newcomer Aidan Delbis, an actor on the autism spectrum who proves to be the moral heart of the piece. Meanwhile we get an Emma Stone as we’ve rarely seen her before, a cold and distant, perhaps even unlikeable figure despite being the victim of a kidnapping and even some light torture, only for a third act revelation to change the very nature of her character and the course of the whole film.

Ultimately ‘Bugonia’ has a more overt, less subtle socio-political slant and more traditional character development than the Greek filmmaker’s previous films, plus a clearer human touch to its narrative, but it also has less of the deadpan proclivities, artistic flair and the distinct Lanthimos flavour, a taste which may have divided opinion but one that we certainly acquired, and which made his previous work so unique and unforgettable. Yet despite not quite living up to its director’s audacious cinematic legacy, his latest bold and unconventional dark dramedy still has so much going for it, not least of which is a murky unpredictable third act and a big surrealist humanity subverting twist, not to mention a rather ironic and bleak yet somehow hopeful conclusion which lingers in the memory and leaves you scratching you head.

The Bottom Line…

A bleak and sometimes sinister but droll and wacky black comedy character drama reflection on humanity’s failings with a big twist and a final sting in the tail, ‘Bugonia’ further underlines the Yorgos Lanthimos reputation for uncomfortably funny and subversive screen concoctions and cinematic curveballs, delivering a riveting idiosyncratic and awkward modern American odyssey headed to parts undeniably unknown.

‘Bugonia’ is out in UK and US cinemas on the 31st of October.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

A successful surgeon and family man’s life takes a downward spiral after he’s drawn into the world of a troubled young patient and is forced to make an inconceivable choice . . . with sinister consequences, in this bizarre tale of revenge and retribution from the singular cinematic force behind ‘Dogtooth’ and ‘The Lobster’.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan among others.

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