Bugonia (2025) Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

Two conspiracy theory barn pots kidnap a powerful CEO and chain her in their basement. Their goal? To expose her for being an Alien who wants to take over and destroy the world.

Bugonia is an adaptation of a 2003 south Korean film called Save the Green Planet! It’s an adaptation that has been in the works since 2020, but it wasn’t until Yorgos Lanthimos signed onto direct that the ball really started rolling. Lanthimos is a critically acclaimed director who has worked on films such as Poor Things, The Favourite, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He is truly one of this generations best and most unique directors. After his success last year on both Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, I was very excited to see what he would be doing next.

This film is about the dangers of conspiracy; it is very much a commentary on modern society and how people use social media to manipulate the masses, from the people who have had society fail them, to the vulnerable people who think they are doing the right thing.

This movie is thrilling; it’s a very dialogue heavy film filled with tense conversations that continuously reach peaks that will make you squirm in your seat. This is mostly down to the star power of Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, as well as a really tight script. This is Stone’s 4^th film with Lanthimos, in many ways they are like Ying and Yang, a collaborative duo that fit so well together. Whilst I wouldn't say this is her best role to date, I would say that she provides another fantastic performance, which is expected of her. She manages to play this role so well, she brings a powerful, manipulative, and empathetic voice to this character, as well as a little suspicion, which is exactly what you need for something like this.

Plemons is also amazing in this film. When doing a film about conspiracy theory and the effects the internet has on us as a society, it is always a tough line to walk on how to present the people effected. Plemons is terrifying in this role, but there is such a humanist approach to his performance. We as the audience see why he has become the way he is, and how society has failed him and the people around him.

But I want to put a specific highlight on supporting actor Aidan Delbis. Delbis plays the character Don, who is the protagonists cousin. Don in this film is autistic, and they make it very obvious in this film that Don is being actively manipulated by Jesse Plemons's character Teddy. In addition, his character is also the most empathetic out of the three and you get this vibe that he doesn’t really want to be engaging in any of the events that take place. But because he is being manipulated by his close family he must stay.

The reason I want to highlight this performance in particular, is not only because this is Aidan Delbis’s first film, but the actor himself is actually autistic. It is all too common in this day and age to cast neurotypical actors in autistic roles, as well as having cliche’s of those characters being annoying, eccentric, or hard to be around. I am thinking of the likes of Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory, or Shaun Murphy in The Good Doctor. Especially in horror films such as this, some horror’s also have a tendency to make the autistic/disabled characters the main terrifying villains. But to not only cast an autistic actor in an autistic role, but to also portray this character as someone who is in fact the emotional heart of the film, as well as having a subplot about the fact that vulnerable people are radicalised into being on the wrong side of history, is very powerful and utterly incredible representation.

This film also joins the VistaVision revolution! After the success of The Brutalist (which revived the long dead format) and One Battle After Another. Bugonia is the third film to be shot on VistaVision in recent years. It certainly adds so much to the vibe and atmosphere of this film. It creates this warm, sharp, high contrast feel, that makes the film feel really grounded and gritty. I would even go as far to say that out of the three films that have used VistaVision so far, that this film does it best.

But with all that being said, here comes the real kicker. Bugonia’s ending is awful. It’s undoubtably going to be divisive when it releases to the general public. But to me I simply cannot stand it. It is hard to talk about this film’s ending without spoiling the big twist, so I will keep it as vague as possible. In the final moments of this film, it tries to do one last big shocking twist, and in my opinion this twist throws away the entire point of this film. Everything from conspiracy theory commentary, manipulation, and vulnerability is completely disregarded just for the sake of having a twist.

This twist is also present in the 2003 film, which this film is adapted off, so perhaps a little bit of grace can be given. But for me, I spent the entire film wishing this wouldn’t happen, and when it did, it soured a lot of the film for me. Which is a massive shame, because if this twist hadn’t of happened, not only would I think that this is the best film I saw at the London Film Festival, but also Yorgos Lanthimos’s best film to date. I especially think that in this modern world, this twist is not only stupid, but also dangerous.

★★★★

4 / 5

Jacob Holmes

Instagram: _jacob.holmes

Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/2vL6V