If you want to watch an absurdist genre film, your best bet is to check out Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. The director and writer tend to lean into the world of “WTF” with well-established shots that’ll stick with any moviegoer. Lanthimos seems to have found his muse in actor Emma Stone, as the two have worked together on several projects. The collaboration has earned high acclaim in many film circles, yet it still welcomes regular audiences into its world. With Bugonia, the two continue that style by adding “dark comedy” with the absurdist genre and some of the greatest “Holly sh**t” moments in cinema this year.
Bugonia, directed by Lanthimos and written by Will Tracy, is a remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s movie Save the Green Planet. Bugonia follows the kidnapping of Stone’s character, Michelle Fuller, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Auxolith. The kidnappers, Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), believe that a series of conspiracy theories proves that Fuller is part of an invasive alien species. The movie features sequences of intense conversations and interactions that reveal each character in a shocking yet somewhat hilarious way.
Lanthimos tends to direct his own scripts to give the film that absurdist style that he’s known for. Consequently, Tracy’s Bugnoia script is on par with that style.
Bugonia‘s overarching theme explores how pharmaceutical companies can do more harm than good to the planet. The script doesn’t hit you over the head with that notion. Instead, the writing uses Gatz’s paranoia and Fuller’s “Plastic smile” attitude to convey that message throughout the film. Those tactics allow the movie to feature several humorous moments that feel authentic and warrant the label of dark comedy. Yet, Tracy’s screenplay goes deeper.
Gatz’s personality starts to reveal itself during Bugonia and opens a fascinating door on trauma. The character uses conspiracy theories to cope with the events in his life that would break anyone mentally. However, Tracy doesn’t make Gatz’s theories unreasonable or idiotic. The writer strikes a perfect balance of sanity and insanity for the character, to the point where I even start to believe Gatz myself. It made all the difference when an incredibly shocking reveal profoundly shifted the film’s tone.
Bugonia‘s script is undoubtedly superb on its own, but it’s the acting between Stone and Plemons that helps drive the movie home. Stone and Plemons have shown their excellent acting skills from one project to another. The collaboration with Lanthimos has been blossoming since 2024’s Kinds of Kindness, and it rings true with Bugonia.
The actors take every scene they share to deliver that ticking time-bomb reveal throughout Bugonia. The two have multiple back-and-forths that highlight their status in life, and they’re separate but share a single mission: getting what they want. Fuller wants to get out of this kidnapping alive and relatively unharmed. Gatz wants to stop an alien invasion, and the two clash in such a mesmerizing way that made me want to watch them talk for hours. I couldn’t get enough of it, and the film’s midpoint, with the two of them, gave Bugonia a mental white-knuckle feel.
The amazing directing by Lanthimos helps weave all these elements together, giving the movie a well-deserved buildup of tension that culminates in a shocking 3rd Act. That moment caught me hooting and hollering as it slammed all the pieces together, reminding me that the director is an undeniable master of his craft.
It’s genuinely something Bugonia showcases: Lanthimos continues to grow as a storyteller and has found a perfect collaborative partnership in Stone and Plemons. The filmmaker will always take a normal, benign subject and draw attention to it in absurd, hard-hitting ways. The movie is thoroughly entertaining if Lanthimos’s previous work is your jam or even mildly curious. Just be prepared for s**t to pop off at that midpoint.