Agent10

So here was my dilemma. I had two potential vacations to ponder. One was go to the middle of the Nevada desert and partake in the biggest, most expensive joke in history, or go to California to chase a woman that was sending me certain signals. Well, considering the woman in question was not into me and I missed out on the joy of Area 51, I made the wrong decision for sure.

Anyway, Storm Area 51. The last great unifying moment for people online before Covid 19 wrecked everything. We didn't know how good we had it at the time. Being part of the meme culture of the time I loved all of this. It brought laughs to my usually drab day, and the online videos (especially the one by Banned Inc. "The Raid of Area 51") were hilarious.

Seeing this story unfold in real time was great, but hearing a little backstory was nice. Considering some random kid started one of the greatest online memes of all time still baffles me, but it was perfect for the time. One of my favorite memories of how my parents reacted. While my mom got me a shirt, my dad wondered if I was suicidal, since he is an ex military guy, thinking I was legitimately going to storm the most secure base in the US.

In retrospect I regret not going, even if the thing was stupid. So let that be a lesson gentlemen. Once a lifetime experiences should always trump potential girlfriends. Just saying.

I'm sure I'll get plenty of downvotes, but then again, people like me don't observe art or critique it for the appeal of the masses. One Battle After Another will probably gain all of the awards, and deservedly so. While some will claim it was for all the times P. T. Anderson was passed over when it came to some of his more superior projects like Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master, that mode of thinking is not a good stream of thought.

Political films that reflect the very "Now" of the time period rarely age well, but Anderson took on a subject that will always be a forced hot button, that being illegal immigration. Having been a pragmatist my whole life, you either let them all stay and give them easier pathways for work programs like we used to before "Project Wetback," or you tell them all to leave. Unfortunately, the far right has constantly toed the line of kicking all of these people out, but the hypocrisy of these beliefs are rooted in racism as they seem to care little about non-Latino illegals and even tried creating laws in some states (especially Texas) where single families would've been allowed to hire illegal home maintenance teams. It's ridiculous, I know.

While many people will surely focus on the politics, the main story is buried in the rhetoric that childish podcasters spew out on a regular basis. Colonel Steve Lockjaw (it's always a damn Steve) is hoping to join a secret, far right group of racists who carry an untold amount of influence in the country's political spheres. Except one problem. Colonel Steve really likes strong, powerful minority women, and needs to erase a certain problem from his past to make sure there is absolutely no evidence of this fetish. It's a strange concept, but it shows the power of control and intimidation on the colonel's side, his desire for power and prestige will not be thwarted regardless of how many laws he breaks, how many individual rights he steps on or how many people he intimidates. It's ironic that supposed left winger Sean Penn melts into this role, but not surprising. Those who have followed this man knows he is a temperamental, judgmental jerk who has burned a lot of bridges in Hollywood, with this being the best movie he has done in a decade due to the fact few really want to work with him anymore.

The main protagonist of course, is centered on Leonardo DiCaprio's Bob Ferguson, a bumbling ex-revolutionary who stumbles through the story as more competent characters push him through the proper doors to keep the plot moving. I never cared much for DiCaprio, but he was perfectly cast as the revolutionary burn out, the last of his group primarily because he decided to take the hint and hide away with his newborn child Willa rather than fight the good fight. It's a perfect role for him, for every time I see him on screen in any project, I just can't take the guy seriously.

I have to give a ton of credit to Anderson and his directing on this film. After the dull and vacuous Licorice Pizza, he seemingly combined all the best elements of his past films into one. The flashbacks of Magnolia and The Master, the stream of thought continuity and chaos of Punch Drunk Love and rising stakes of There Will Be Blood. Mixed with some hot button political side steps and you have a film that will have a much more long term impact than a film like Civil War (let's hope).

Personally, I didn't feel the politics made the film overbearing. The revolutionaries, who are most closely aligned to my own beliefs, come off as overly altruistic, and have clearly failed if they are still fighting the same battles with the same methods even in a technologically advanced world such as this. And of course, the right wing military complex is scarily real, as we keep hearing the extreme tactics these people are participating in against the very citizens they boast about protecting. The topical nuance of the film is spot on, even with the right wing civil war being waged in real life mimicking the central plot thread of the film. The ending was also perfect in my opinion, illustrating to the world that certain generations will eventually be judged accordingly as smarter, more savvy ones take their place.

While I believe the more cerebral Bugonia is the best film of the year, One Battle After Another has a better cast, a more accessible story and a more straightforward narrative that will give it more clout come awards season. And it's not something I will be mad about regardless.

It's amazing to think what Yorgos Lanthimos was ten years ago. Before he came to Hollywood he was the "Dogtooth Guy," the man expected to make Michael Haneke style films never to be seen beyond film festivals. And then he met Colin Farrell, and within three years he was suddenly one of the best film makers going, having made The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. With this notoriety suddenly everyone wanted to work with him, and we are lucky he met Emma Stone.

Yes, the privileged rich girl that starred in some cringe films, even playing a Chinese-mixed character in one of her most embarrassing forays. She was long past the good will of Superbad. In four consecutive film features, that being The Favourite, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and now Bugonia, not only has Lanthimos cemented a run of great film and daring art, Stone has gone from goofy rom com level actress to dark Meryl Streep. It's a good professional marriage, as Stone has cemented herself as a capable actress and producer and Lanthimos now has the clout and devoted collaborators to make his brand of darkly satirical film. It's a similar situation when Tom Cruise spent 15 months with Stanley Kubrick, turning from a run of the mill movie star to a guy that hangs off the side of airplanes, climbs the tallest building in the world and teaches himself to hold his breath for four minutes so his stunts can look more realistic. It's incredible to see how meeting a certain collaborator can change your career trajectory so to speak.

Bugonia, based on the hard to find film "Save the Green Planet," tells the story of two men seeking to save the world by kidnapping a chemical company executive who they believe is an emissary to the space faring race of Andromeda. They believe the world is dying due to the destruction of the bee population, and Emma Stone's character is key to stopping the carnage. After kidnapping her and holding her prisoner, the mental jockeying between Jesse Plemon's Teddy Gatz and Stone's Michelle Fuller escalates as the particular viewpoint of each character is exposed.

Lanthimos routinely has an underlying message to his stories that can easily be determined if you pay close enough attention, and Bugonia is not much different. Bias is the central theme, and how you determine your information or present it illustrates how believable it can be. Having a well manicured and well spoken executive like Fuller versus Gatz, who chemically castrates himself and denies all truth in any online sources, is an interesting lesson on perceptual bias. A woman with perfect hair and skin saying the bees are fine is much more presentable than a man with greasy hair and a threadbare suit saying the world is being controlled by space aliens. It was a lesson I witnessed in real time, when the original champions of pot legalization stopped looking and talking like The Dude and started talking and looking like lawyers and lobbyists. Now you have people using pot taxes to pay for roads and education and you have a new breed of conspiracy "truthers" saying pot can cure HIV or something. Eventually all arguments, thanks in part to the echo chambers of the internet, can gestate freely.

Some people I read reviews for didn't like the ending or felt the film was boring, but I guess this means I am a part of the unhinged Teddy Gatz legion, thinking this film should be the film of the year. Watch it if you wish to be challenged.