Contains spoilers
The four-time Oscar-nominated film “Bugonia” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos is sure to make heads turn as they walk by the TV, or at least it did in my household, and for good reason. “Bugonia” is a skin-crawling, uncomfortably captivating movie that forces you to sit down and watch it.
The movie opens with dying worker bees delivering pollen to a thriving queen, who is slowly killing her own colony. Conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) believes this represents humanity and that the CEO of his pharmaceutical job, Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), is the queen. He convinces his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) that Michelle is an alien, and through kidnapping and torture, they conclude she is the emperor of an alien species known as Andromedans.
Eventually, after conflict and unexpected twists, Michelle tricks Teddy into detonating the bomb strapped around his waist himself in a closet, escaping him as she is driven away peacefully in an ambulance to receive care for her wounds. But the ending doesn’t stop there. Viewers, who assume Teddy’s conspiracies were a fluke, watch as Michelle escapes and returns to the same closet to teleport herself to her mothership, where it is revealed she actually is an alien emperor and, like the queen bee was doing, eliminates the entire human race.
“Bugonia” is a remake of the South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!” While the plot was intriguing, after a minute of panning over different dead bodies across the world, I felt more annoyed by the ending than shocked. It felt predictable and poorly executed. Perhaps a consequence of a 23-year-old plot; but beyond that, the ending didn’t feel like it needed to mirror the original and would have performed better with a unique conclusion unlike what was used before.
“Bugonia” refers to an ancient Mediterranean myth about death and renewal, with bees rising from the ash of dead cattle. As represented during the final minutes of the movie, destroying the human race that was “infecting” Earth allowed nature to thrive. Despite the ending, the artistic elements and deeper meaning of the movie don’t fail to impress.
From the beginning, the movie is spectacular. Each scene feels thoughtfully conceived and artistic as every shot perfectly tells the bigger story. The bright and almost vintage feel causes the movie to stand out and come alive, an interesting choice for such a visceral storyline.
The aggressive classical music composed by Jerskin Fendrix paired with quick tight shots curated by Robbie Ryan set up the movie to be a masterpiece of a stylish, surreal, dark sci-fi. The specific elements of the movie shouldn’t stylistically blend together, yet scenes with overbearing music paired with vibrant colors created a fresh-feeling aesthetic that was almost retrofuturistic.
Actress Emma Stone, who played lead character Michelle, stood out most on screen, performing superbly for her fourth movie with Lanthimos. Stone’s range from playing a collected businesswoman trying to strike a deal to a tortured and traumatized captive were sublime. During particularly intense scenes, her agonized screams disturbed me beyond anything else the movie had to offer. Stone brought the movie together and tied it up with a perfectly overdone bow, justifying a possible Best Actress award.
As for the other three Oscar nominations, “Bugonia” will be a strong contender in Best Picture, Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay. Against the other highly-rated movies of the year, competition will be tough, but “Bugonia” is undoubtedly deserving of each award. And with all of the elements that make up “Bugonia” stacked together, it truly is a new film rising from the ashes of its predecessor, ready to take on the Oscars and bring home a Best Picture win.
