By: Dominic La-Viola
Nothing prepares you for Bugonia, for the first time, in quite some time. I left the theater uncertain on how I truly feel about what I just watched. Which I believe is an achievement within itself.
For anytime you leave a movie and said movie leaves you with mixed emotions, pounding it long after the end credits roll. There’s almost nothing more accomplishing than that.
This is a film that has been on my most anticipated movies of the year list since I first saw the trailer, and the film doesn’t disappoint.
Jesse Plemons gives one of the best performances of his career as he portrays Teddy, a conspiracy-obsessed thirty-something male. Who believe’s that the head of his company is an alien.
Emma Stone who plays opposite Plemons, gives an Oscar-worthy performance. Playing said CEO and according to Teddy, an alien live form who is here to take over the world. She shaved her entire head for this role. Doing something very few actresses have done, as a complete transformation for a role.
Separately, the characters and the performances are good, but nothing outstanding. Not until the two characters’ paths cross and we are given the opportunity to see them interact together on screen.
They share a type of on-screen chemistry that isn’t sexual or romantic, nothing of the usual female, male duo that we’re used to seeing in films. But something so much more.
Playing two completely different roles and characters on opposite sides of the spectrum. Bouncing off each other with an intensity that not only pulls you in but always leaves you wanting more.
In the first few scenes after the audition, is when we first bear witness to this. For the two character go toe to toe in a, what I can only describe as a heated debate.
Teddy, whom giving the situation you would be led to believe is simply a whack job, but isn’t. He is a whack job, but he’s also so much more.
Stone’s character, Michelle, is obviously a very intelligent, persuasive wordsmith, given her background and success.
Although Teddy’s character is just as intelligent without having the degrees or traditional qualifications or experience.
At first, of course, her character tries to take charge and manipulate Teddy by taking control of the situation without taking control of the situation. But fails to do so, showing us firsthand that Teddy is more than just a conspiracy theorist who lives off the grid and is completely ignorant and unaware of anything and everything around him.
Which is where director Yorgos Lanthimos comes in, really flexing his skills by blending the genres of dark comedy and thriller so effectively and effortlessly. Setting the stage for Plemons and Stone to carry the film across the finish line. Something that couldn’t have been done without Lanthimos’s direction and notably a spectacular script from Will Tracy.
For what starts off as simply a conspiracy theory nut job talking his cousin, who is very influenceable young man on this insane journey.
Quickly turns into something more. Piece by piece, we learn more and more about Teddy’s past and all these horrible things that have happened to him and to those around him. Which doubles down on why he’s become the person he is, along with reinsures the audience of his insanity.
All the while, the film touches on social issues and hot topics while never hovering around them long enough to be considered problematic. Yet touches on things that one would question about Teddy’s mindset. Which he confirmed that over the course of 5 years, he was indeed a right-wing, a rightist, a leftist, a left-wing, an activist, among other radical groups before discovering the truth.
The film overall has this perfect balance between arthouse and mass market. A concept in which can be wrapped and sold off to the masses, while the core of the film is built like an arthouse movie. Crafted piece by piece, using the various tools at his disposal, Yorgos Lanthimos crafts an intriguing and distinguished film.
Using the cinematography to carefully create emotion. The incredibly wide, landscape-style shots, not to measure distance like in “Lawrence of Arabia” when he’s standing in the middle of the desert. But to measure emotional disconnect from everyone around them.
Even when the framing and shots seem out of place or off-kilter, they still manage to feel very deliberate and intentional. Rather than merely being shots that capture the images in frame. Ultimately, making me question what was the intention for this or that shot, when it wasn’t obvious or followed the pattern of framing that had been established.
The score elevates emotion when needed, and is silent at moments when the actions are emotional enough to completely flow and overwhelm you. There were even moments when I felt like the score was there, playing to an actionless scene just to keep the intensity of the film.
Overall, I absolutely loved this movie. The dialogue was well-crafted and gave us hints to what the truth held for us long before it showed us. The performances were beyond astonishing. Both Plemons and Stone deserve Oscar nominations for their performances . My only real issue with the film is the ending. I feel like if it had ended 60-90 seconds sooner, cutting off right before the montage scene with the elaborate score. The film would have been so much crisper and intense. Leaving the viewer more unsettled, yet more fulfilled and satisfied.
Overall Rating: 4.5/ 5 Stars.
Four Time Film School Dropout 
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