“Of all the abductions, this one is different.
Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.” – Letterboxd Synopsis
I love movies. On average, I watch maybe 20-30 a year, and it’s been like that for a while. There have only been three movies in my life that have just made me feel off. That have been so surreal, but interesting and thought provoking that they become a puzzle for me to rack my brain around. Unfortunately, at the time, I was on hiatus from blogging, so I didn’t write reviews for the first two, which I watched in the same year (Although I did talk about them in my 2024 end-of-year list). Those two being Beua is Afraid and Poor Things. The latter is from the same movie’s director, starring the same actor as well. While this movie is more grounded in its surrealism, that makes it even more visceral and brainwormy. To date of me writing this, it’s been about a week since I watched this movie, and I have thought about it the entire week.
I forgot which movie I saw the trailer for this one before last year. But I remember seeing this trailer and getting that instant feeling like I need to see that. Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos were on my must watch actor-duo list after watching Poor Things back in 2024, and the premise for this movie sounded so good. Which it is, and it is executed brilliantly. The thing about Poor Things was that it’s clearly fictional, and its surrealisticness (Is this a word?) expands to its settings and scenery, which made for a beautifully weird looking movie. This movie feels almost too real. There are people like the people in this movie in real life. Conspiracies and extremist beliefs, and raging distrust, have always been a thing, but especially in this age of the internet, it has taken on new life. It has become even more extreme. CEOs and companies running and ruining people’s lives without a care in the world is a real thing.
There is a constant layered weaving metaphor about bees from beginning to end. The first shot of this movie is actually of a bee colony, and there is a point about halfway through where Michelle and Teddy have a very interesting conversation about the place of bees in the world and our place with them. What’s so brilliant about it is that it’s constantly flipping. And not to spoil anything about the movie at all, but there is a constant mystery going back and forth through the whole movie. Is Michelle really an alien or not? Even if she is, does it justify what Teddy is doing? And what I especially loved about this mystery is that it doesn’t matter in the sense that it works both ways. There could be two versions of this movie, and all the themes would still fit because when these people, these CEOs, tech oligarchs, billionaires, reach that level of money, power, and influence. They might as well be aliens to normal people like us. And that is, on one hand, scary to think about, but it makes things even more interesting in this movie.
I don’t know if the conversations have been happening already, but Emma Stone is (and has been) one of the greatest actors of this generation. This woman can do it all convincingly, and her performance opposite Jesse Plemons is what makes this movie so compelling. She plays this ceo so well. Again, she is so much above the rest of normal people that she feels alien. She is arrogant, abrasive, confident, and demanding. Way more than any normal person would or even should be in the situation she finds herself in. Which creates such a tense and amazing back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse dynamic with her captors, but especially Teddy. The subtlety in Emma’s performance is so, so good. Michelle is like an apex predator who waits patiently for their prey’s weakness to appear before making a snap attack. And Teddy is a ball of weakness. For all of that, though, it’s crazy how much this movie made me feel just as bad for everyone at certain points throughout. No matter how Michelle came off, no matter if she really was an alien trying to destroy the world, or a ceo trying to destroy the world, on a human level, I felt bad for her as she gets tortured and is subjected to these conditions. It’s impossible not to. This is really just a masterful performance from Emma Stone, and as much as I love poor thing, this is easily her best.
Jessie Plemons, man. For as amazing a character Michelle is, and how amazing Emma Stone’s acting was, Teddy is a constant scene stealer. He is unstable in the worst way. He presents as a good guy because, in certain ways, he is. He’s had a fucked up life, been through very messed up things from not only his family but family friends and the system that he still finds himself trapped in. He (very funnily), by self-admission, has found himself going through all the pipelines of beliefs, alt-right, left, you name it, and he’s exposed himself to it. And yet it’s undeniable that there is a genuine care and kindness in his heart for his cousin and his co-workers. Hell, even humanity as a whole, because he believes in what he is doing and the good of it. Even if that conviction comes from a more twisted place. Even though he uses that same conviction to do genuinely evil things, and manipulate his cousin to follow along. Teddy is a wonderfully complex character, and I have never seen anything with Jesse Plemons in it (yeah, I know, I haven’t watched Breaking Bad), but this is legitimately an all-time great performance. The range he shows is insane.
There are really only two other prominent characters in this movie outside of Teddy and Michelle. I love Stavvy, and he plays this really weird cop that has a strongly alluded to uncomfortable past with Teddy. All of their scenes were just awkward and uncomfortable, but like in a very intentional and well acted way. It added layers to Teddy’s past for sure. And then you have Don. I loved Don. I don’t think I can call him sweet and innocent, but he definitely brings that side out of Teddy. Their dynamic is so messed up. Because the manipulation is very apparent, but so is the love and genuine familial care between the two of them. He was a welcome character for sure, who really worked next to Teddy.
I don’t know how Yorgos did it, but this movie looked dirty in a good way. Just the way it was filmed made everything feel very nasty and icky, which added to the movie a lot. The score is absolutely insane. Like Teddy basically has this bombastic theme song that definitely feels different in each context it’s used. I just loved how gritty and visceral this movie can get while also interweaving those surreal aspects. And I will always praise the use of practical effects and sets, especially when they are as good as they are in this movie.
So yeah, I absolutely loved this movie. I think it’s just about on par with Poor Things. The only thing that movie has above this is that it’s actually hilarious. I can watch those scenes of Mark Ruffalo breaking all day. But what this movie does with its tension and writing is actually so impressive. Jessie Plemons and Emma Stone both give two of my favorite performances, maybe ever. This movie is just insanely engaging and feverish as I expected. My only gripe at all is that it definitely feels its length at times, but it still maintained my engagement, and I don’t think there is a second that I would shave off of this thing.
Bugonia – 9/10
