Bugonia

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.

Plemons sinks into this role like wet cement.

If Heath Ledger's Joker was chaos on fire, Plemons is the silence that burns before the explosion. The yin to that yang. No makeup, no theatrics, just a man quietly losing his grip one inch at a time. You can't look away.

His scenes of him 'brainwashing' his cousin exudes a natural darkness I cannot recall ever seeing on screen before.

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.

Not for everyone, but definitely for me! To start, the acting was unbelievable from the three main characters. Emma Stone was amazing, and Jesse Plemons and the actor who plays his cousin are just outstanding. The hair and makeup were very creative - from bald on Emma, to HELP - PLEASE GET THIS MAN SOME SHAMPOO! The story was the fun part - who doesn't like twists, turns, ups, downs and inside outs??? This was just a fun movie that made me want to see it a couple more times, just like Poor Things. BRAVO!

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.