Bugonia
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite) reunites with Emma Stone for this satire about two young men who, obsessed with conspiracy theories, kidnap the CEO of a large company because they believe she is an alien.
One might be surprised that Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest is a remake – adapted from the 2003 Korean film Save The Green Planet! – the film manages to be both prime Lanthimos and his most pointed examination of contemporary society. An obsessive conspiracy theorist and his cousin kidnap a slick, rich pharma executive (Emma Stone), insisting that she admit to being part of an alien species that’s been conducting experiments on humans. What unfolds is a battle of competing mythologies, as the pandering corporate executive and the wild-eyed, did-my-own-research lunatic go at it in extended sequences full of subtly shifting power dynamics.
Bugonia is Lanthimos’s most claustrophobic film, and perhaps the one most grounded in today’s realities. And it all concludes (no spoilers) with a series of shots that send the film spinning in a heartbreaking new direction. (source: Telluride Film Festival)