MA 15+, 118 Minutes
4 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
By keeping bees, a hallowed art today, a man somewhere in America feels that he is doing his bit for the planet. From the leafy edge of town, he cycles to work each day at the pharmaceutical company where he is employed in product dispatch. But when he isn’t an underling in the bowels of big pharma, he is a man on a mission, plotting to undermine the system.
The ancient, hallowed practise of beekeeping has been instrumental in shaping his view on life. Teddy (Jesse Plemons) sees the world divided between workers and drones, and queen bees who run the joint. Tanned and gaunt, Plemons is transformed in this role of whacky, alienated conspiracy theorist, and utterly convincing.
Teddy believes that the Auxolith corporation CEO, Michelle (Emma Stone), with her power-walk and powerful presence, is an alien. A malevolent being from the Andromeda galaxy that is bent on the destruction of planet Earth. Stone is also brilliant as Michelle. Vaguely robotic, glassy-eyed and she can always bring on that trademark thousand-mile stare.
Wild theories aside, Teddy is also struggling with his perception of the powerful uber rich. We understand. When the social divide is the widest it’s been in living memory, some seem to inhabit a different planet, detached from the destiny of ordinary mortals.
Whacky, alienated conspiracy theorist faces off with alien corporate CEO
When Teddy and his hapless dependent, autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), kidnap Michelle, in scenes accompanied by composer Jerskin Fendrix’s disturbing musical score, Bugonia lurches into suburban noir. A playground for directors from Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), to David Lynch (Blue Velvet), and beyond. In Teddy’s house, where he lived with his mum until she was reduced to a vegetative state in a clinical trial conducted by Auxolith, the décor is frozen, sometime in the sixties. The homey ambience quickly shifts to nightmare as Teddy and Don tie Michelle down on a mattress on the floor and direct her to take them to her extra-terrestrial leader.
To ensure she cannot be traced they shave off her hair. (The things actors are willing to do for their art!) The androgynous result, along with something Teddy mentions about being castrated, takes sex out of the equation, at least. Fierce and resourceful, Michelle is a match for her abductor, and then some.
The sight of a female tied down in the soundproofed basement unearths disturbing screen memories from The Collector onwards. Moreover, these scenes of entrapment are accompanied by music that invokes the violence of the shower scene in Psycho. But Michelle is clearly no everyday victim. And the mood is leavened by the move’s smarts and dark humour.
Homey ambience lurches into suburban noir
The debate between Michelle and Teddy is at the core of the action, a highpoint in the writing by Will Tracy, who made significant contribution to the TV series Succession. South Korean director Jang Joon-hwan, on whose film from 2003 Bugonia is loosely based, also has a writing credit. His film, Save the Green Planet! is a cult classic with a reputation for its horror and violence.
To the extent that Bugonia is a take on the state of America at this moment in time, it shares a space with current blockbuster One Battle After Another. Yorgos Lanthimos’s work is far more coherent. The ideas are reined in, just as outrageous but so much better articulated. I also like the way Bugonia looks too, with esteemed cinematographer, Robbie Ryan, behind the camera.
The experience of Lanthimos’ last film, Kinds of Kindness, worked against my readiness to experience Bugonia, and my views on the director’s work are decidedly mixed. However, this new film, so well written and structured, is up there with the excellent The Favourite and Poor Things, both written by Tony McNamara. It’s really good writing that brings out the best in this mercurial filmmaker.
If there is a take-away message in Bugonia, it could be this. If we don’t all behave ourselves, someone somewhere will pull the plug.
Also published by Rotten Tomatoes