Bugonia Bugonia

Lanthimos strikes again! And it's another masterpiece. Black Comedy, Satire, Social critic on internet conspiracy theories, weird, absurd, witty, bloody and last but not least a nihilistic comment on mankind working on its own extinction.

And what an intelligent screenplay it is! And all in all an exciting and entertaining movie with surprising twists. How many times can you leave the theatre feeling refreshed and inspired, because you know you have just watched something you have never seen on a screen before? Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons deliver great performances, on top of their skills. It's such a pleasure to watch actors with their depth and intensity.

I loved the whole experience, it's a brilliant movie, strongly recommended.

London Film Festival review

For a moment BUGONIA is like watching "Misery" or "Funny Games" through the lens of 1950s Hollywood dystopian paranoia films. Yorgos follows the sadistic path he started in The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Kinds Of Kindness playing with Kubrick-like visuals and sounds to deliver a fairly straightforward cynical fable until it's not.

Emma and Jesse explore a violent theatricality and beautiful expressionism to great success. Both are harrowing and spectacular (this is Plemons best part ever) but are also limited by the linearity of it all. The last act reconnects Lanthimos with his subversive, unpredictable and absurd poetry but I guess Media, Politics and Truths are this year's true topics. Not surprising this film shares common grounds with Eddington.

I wanted to love it but I just really really liked it.

Bugonia is a classic Yorgos Lanthimos movie as it examines the darkest parts of human nature in a characteristically darkly comedic fashion but it also offers something different when it operates as a tense thriller. It's a neatly structured film that only gets better once things properly escalate in a genuinely shocking way and it reaches a satisfying conclusion. This is another recent release which really feels of the moment.

Jesse Plemons is amazing by being fully committed to the naivety of his character which makes him equally threatening and gullible. Emma Stone is effortlessly confident and funny as she slowly begins to control the situation, continuing her winning collaboration with Yorgos in a way that shows her full potential once again. It's the constantly shifting power play between these two that keeps it so investing and unpredictable.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos delivers one of his strongest films to date where the trademark surrealism feels more appropriate thanks to the premise whilst working with some of his most consistent collaborators behind the camera. Robbie Ryan's cinematography knows how to make each scene look beautiful and surreal at the same time, complimented by Jerskin Fendrix's suitably paranoid score ensuring everything feels ominous when needed.

This movie is a really good mix of genres in typical lanthimos styles, there's especially a lot of his sicked black humour as well as unexpected drama, horror and sci fi. Performances are all great but it's the finale that for me really elevates the movie. Funny, coherent, surprising, visually amazing.

The soundtrack was great too, looking forward to its general release to see the audience reaction.

The film turned out no worse than the Korean version, which is already impressive on its own.

Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons once again deliver outstanding performances.

What we get is a sharp satire that makes you wonder: maybe conspiracy believers are simply broken by the real world? Maybe that's why they retreat into fantasies, searching for secrets that don't actually exist, just to justify their own problems?

The ending raises a question: can we ever be as organized as bees? Or are we destined to remain fragmented and harm one another? Does a perfect version of humanity even exist?

Lanthimos once again does not disappoint.