‘Bugonia’ Is A Compelling Punch In The Gut
According to Wikipedia, the 2025 film Bugonia is an absurdist black comedy directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. An English-language remake of Korean director Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet!, it follows two young men who kidnap a powerful CEO. They believe she is an alien who wants to destroy earth.
The title also refers to something else: “Bugonia” is the name of an ancient Mediterranean ritual based on a belief that bees were spontaneously generated from a cow’s carcass. For real. Two of the three main characters in the film Bugonia believe it.
The story begins with Teddy (Jesse Plemons) attending to a bee colony. Teddy is a man on the edge, trapped in the echo chamber of his own mind. He is enabled by his innocent cousin, Don (Aidan Delbis). Together, they make the best pair of bumbling and misguided crooks since Fargo.
Emma Stone plays Michelle Fuller, a high-powered executive who runs a company just down the street. She eventually becomes their kidnap victim.
BUGONIA YORGOS LANTHIMOS
JOHNNY’S RATING: 4.5 STARS
Bugonia is by far my favorite Lanthimos movie. I’m eager to see it again with a bigger audience. Emma Stone is great in subversive roles, especially when collaborating with Lanthimos (Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, The Favourite). There’s also The Curse with Nathan Felder.
Plemons is also above par. A greasy, obsessive and righteously confident conspiracy theorist. Is he crazy? Stupid? Would a corporation poison his sick mother (Alicia Silverstone) on purpose? Aidan Delbis, in his debut feature, gives a standout performance as the morale center of the film.
During one scene, Michelle and Teddy debate aliens and the wealth gap while twirling their spaghetti with forks. Neither of them actually eats their food, but cousin Don chows down.
Also, I don’t think I will ever eat a coconut frosted cake ever again.
Bugonia will likely divide audiences. I could hear the other critics at the screening gasp, for better or worse, several times. At one point in the film, I audibly exclaimed “Yes!” I laughed hysterically throughout the ending. I would rate this as one of my favorites of 2025.
The best films of the year, including PTA’s One Battle After Another and Ari Aster’s Eddington, have tapped into the zeitgeist and the uncertain future of our democracy. Bugonia punches us in the gut, asks if we’re okay and then punches us again.
Bugonia buzzes into theaters in limited release on October 24th and everywhere on October 31st.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Johnny Lange is a Chicago-based director and Columbia College graduate (2003) who has devoted his life to film. His feature debut, ‘Split Personalities Alternate Dimensions,’ was released in 2025.
Related Articles
About Post Author
