{"id":89744,"date":"2025-10-21T22:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/89744\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T22:41:08","slug":"emma-stone-jesse-plemons-reunite-for-yorgos-lanthimoss-bugonia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/89744\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons reunite for Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Based on the 2003 South Korean film \u201cSave the Green Planet!,\u201d \u201cBugonia\u201d finds Teddy (Jesse Plemons, with Stone a star of Lanthimos\u2019s \u201cKinds of Kindness\u201d) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) certain that a polished and cutthroat biomed CEO (Stone) is, in fact, an alien sent to Earth to bring about our destruction. They abduct her and whisk her away to their anonymous rural American home, where they try to coerce her into taking them to her leader and her mothership. Teddy and Don fit in fine with our current, conspiracy-mad culture where internet echo chambers have proven they can convince anyone of anything. (In a sign of self-awareness, Teddy even uses the phrase \u201cecho chamber\u201d to argue that he isn\u2019t actually stuck in one.) <\/p>\n

Coming off his most successful movie, \u201cPoor Things\u201d<\/a> (for which Stone won her second Oscar), and the fringe, almost throw-away \u201cKinds of Kindness\u201d (which, I must admit, I liked very much), Lanthimos has crafted a very linear film that\u2019s still full of jagged edges. The tone is key, as it always is with this filmmaker. \u201cBugonia\u201d is a work of deadpan absurdity, with hints of horror and spasms of violence competing with the kind of laughter that gets stuck in the throat. <\/p>\n

\"EmmaEmma Stone as a CEO in “Bugonia.”Atsushi Nishijima\/Focus Features<\/p>\n

Working from a script by Will Tracy, Lanthimos creates a realistic ridiculousness, and trusts his leads to walk the tightrope with him. Delbis, an actor on the autism spectrum making his first film appearance, finds pathos in Don\u2019s fealty to his cousin; their relationship gives the movie some necessary ballast. But Plemons and Stone do the heavy lifting. He runs hot, carrying a personal vendetta against this woman and her corporation, which he blames not just for poisoning the planet but also for making his mother (a blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-her Alicia Silverstone) deathly ill. Stone plays it cool, a master of corporate-speak who quickly realizes her main captor is dangerously crazy.<\/p>\n

Or \u2026 is he? Lanthimos and his cinematographer Robbie Ryan, a two-time Oscar nominee for Lanthimos\u2019s \u201cPoor Things\u201d and \u201cThe Favourite<\/a>,\u201d turn the always-game Stone into quite the sight. With her head shaved \u2014 Teddy insists her fellow Andromedans can track her through her hair \u2014 her face covered in white cream, the light bouncing off her face just right, she looks a little like, well, an alien. She insists she isn\u2019t, of course. Teddy insists she is. Don is on the fence, though he loves his cousin. In Teddy\u2019s defense, just because you\u2019re paranoid doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not out to get you. <\/p>\n

\"AidanAidan Delbis as Don and Jesse Plemons as Teddy.Atsushi Nishijima\/Focus Features<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to call Lanthimos a clinical filmmaker; he has a way of capturing his characters the way a butterfly collector might wield a net. They squirm, and we squirm right along with them. There was another filmmaker who did this very well, and was also taken to task on occasion for his jaundiced take on the species. His name was Stanley Kubrick. I\u2019m not suggesting that Lanthimos is in Kubrick\u2019s weight class; few, if any, are. But he has a similar way with stark images, and has been known to work from a similar playbook, one that isn\u2019t always generous to his characters, or to humankind. He\u2019s not for everyone. Few worthwhile artists are.<\/p>\n

He is, however, exceptional at getting everyone involved with his films on the same page, and working toward unusual results. There\u2019s a unity of vision in a Lanthimos film, and in his body of work. He also understands that horror and humor work in the same register, and come from a similar place. Many filmmakers nibble away at the subject of human obtuseness and frailty; Lanthimos likes to take a big chomp. It\u2019s easy to look away at the mirror he holds up to the audience. I prefer to hold the gaze.<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

BUGONIA<\/p>\n

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Written by Will Tracy. Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone, J. Cameron Galindez Barrera, Mark T. Lewis, and Vanessa Eng. At Coolidge Corner Theatre, Somerville Theatre, AMC Boston Common, AMC Causeway 13, AMC Assembly Row, and AMC South Bay Center 12. 120 minutes. R (language, violence, possible misanthropy).<\/p>\n

Chris Vognar can be reached at chris.vognar@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him on Instagram at @chrisvognar<\/a> and on Bluesky at chrisvognar.bsky.social.<\/p>\n