I’ve been writing movie reviews for longer than I care to admit, but I honestly can’t recall ever seeing an incredibly well-made movie that was brilliantly acted and very successful at communicating exactly what the filmmaker intended that I couldn’t recommend.
But that was before I saw “Bugonia.”
Director Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the best filmmakers working today. He’s probably best known for the goofball erotic comedy “Poor Things,” which earned Emma Stone an Oscar for Best Actress.
Stone is back with Lanthimos in “Bugonia,” where she plays the no-nonsense CEO of a pharmaceutical company who is the master of all she surveys. That is until she is kidnapped by a couple of conspiracy-minded knuckleheads who are convinced she is a member of an alien race that is here on Earth to keep human beings downtrodden and repressed.
The knuckleheads in question are Teddy and Don, played respectively by Jesse Plemons and Aiden Delbis. Teddy is the brains of the operation, confident that his scheme will not only free him from poverty and oppression, but also liberate the entire human race. Don is a simple, sweet soul who trusts Teddy completely, even if he has doubts about alien overlords.
Even though the kidnapping is a success, with their target chained in the basement and her head shaved so she can’t communicate with the mothership, Teddy and Don might still be overmatched.
Lanthimos is a master of building tension against the backdrop of his pitch-black sense of humor. This movie is packed to the gills with compelling imagery as the tone perfectly walks the highwire between goofy and horrifying from beginning to end.
Stone and Plemons also give powerhouse performances. Don’t be surprised to see them both on end-of-year awards lists, as the power dynamic between the two of them shifts so quickly and so often you might end up with whiplash just watching.
Lanthimos is very clear-eyed in what he is trying to say here. The point of “Bugonia” is that humanity is corrupted to its core and that, even if there is something beautiful or decent created by people, this corruption will eventually swallow it whole. To Lanthimos, mankind is irredeemable. And, if you take a quick glance around the planet, you can definitely see where he is coming from.
His dedication to this thesis statement is so forceful that it does reveal the film’s few flaws: as we get deeper into the proceedings, plot holes emerge and character motivations become cloudy. Also, the casting of Delbis, an actor on the Autism spectrum who gives a fabulous performance as Don, feels a tad icky and exploitative as the movie starts to let its freak-flag fly.
Ultimately, I reject this movie’s entire premise. Life experience has led me to believe that humanity, in spite of its many flaws, is more good than it is bad. That is why, as impressed as I may be with the end product, I can’t recommend “Bugonia.”
History provides some extreme examples of great films with warped perspectives, like “Birth of a Nation” or “Triumph of the Will.” “Bugonia” is nowhere near as repulsive as those films, but it does share the same cognitive dissonance required to recognize a high-quality film with a distasteful point of view.
In fact, I’m actually glad this movie exists, as Lanthimos wants to be challenging and provocative, which is what the best art does. I wouldn’t even try to argue with anyone who says this is a great film. But it would be disingenuous of me to recommend a movie with a viewpoint I vehemently disagree with.
I tip my cap to “Bugonia” out of respect, but not for anything else.
“Bugonia” is rated R for bloody violent content including a suicide, grisly images and language.
