If you Google Bugonia, it comes up described as a comedy/sci-fi movie. I don’t think I’d apply either of those labels to this new movie starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone.
Teddy is down on his luck, working a menial job, taking care of his autistic cousin, and living in his dilapidated family home as his mother wastes away in a coma after a series of failed medical treatments. But Teddy isn’t down or defeated. Teddy is smart. Teddy knows the truth. Teddy knows that aliens are to blame for all his troubles, and indeed, the troubles of all mankind. Teddy knows that aliens have come to Earth, insinuated themselves into our population, and have poisoned us into beginning a long slow march toward our own doom. And what’s more is that Teddy knows what to do about it. He has a target. An alien living very close to his home, right under everyone’s noses, masquerading as a successful business woman whose company was just coincidentally responsible for his mother’s condition. And he knows what he’s going to do to make everything right again, and to get the alien to call off the attack on humanity. He’s going to kidnap the alien business woman, and force her to take him to her emperor on their alien spaceship on the night of the approaching lunar eclipse, so Teddy can negotiate for the future of the planet. What could possibly go wrong?
Bugonia is bit of an odd movie for the current Hollywood landscape, but fits into the catalog of its director, Yorgos Lanthimos, who also directed Stone in the even odder Poor Things. It’s tense, suspenseful, at times brutal and gory, and sometimes disturbingly close to a believable current reality. There aren’t really any big romantic or action set scenes, no hero’s validation or grand achievement, and no satisfying moment of conclusion where all the good guys live happily ever after and the villains meet justice. What it is, is a trip through what seems to be delusion, mental illness, severe grief, and guilt, all of which manifests in truly disturbing behavior as you see just how far Teddy has gone in his quest. The acting is very well done. Both Plemons and Stone put in excellent performances, alongside Aidan Delbis who plays Teddy’s cousin Don. The film looks great, it’s paced reasonably well, and it keeps you just uncertain enough to change your mind a couple of times about how you think things will go.
I definitely enjoyed Bugonia, but it will also definitely not be for everyone. If you’re looking for a blockbuster movie for your holiday weekend, this isn’t that. If you want something familiar, with a fairy tale ending, or a romantic climax, or carefree laughs, or typical horror movie scares and jumps, this isn’t that either. If you’re ok with a little weird, a little uncomfortable, and a little more indie feeling, this might fit the bill.
Bugonia is rated R for grisly violence and disturbing images, including images of suicide. This is not a family or kids movie.