Bugonia

Incredible film. Great score, fantastic performances, and a tight run time. The only issue is that I cannot tell whether the ending was satisfying or ruined a potent message. The movie had great humor but I quickly felt guilty laughing. A woman being captured, threatened, and tortured shouldn’t be funny and the film did a great job of snapping audiences out of the humor and back into the reality of Michelle’s situation. Jesse Plemons was terrifying. My main issue is that, prior to the ending, Bugonia felt like a commentary on incel misogyny and the hate that being a woman and being successful inevitably recieves, and it was great. Michelle had fantastic agency and felt real, it was exciting to root for her escape. Teddy clearly needed help and his actions were horrible and unjustified. A sad but poignant criticism of flawed characters with Michelle being the clear protagonist… But all of that build-up just to reveal that Teddy was right all along? It confuses the message of the movie. Suddenly Teddy’s horrific actions could become “justified” because Michelle really was an alien the whole time. Is it an interesting twist? Yes. Does it problematically recenter the movie’s protagonist to Teddy? I argue yes.  I just feel like a deep story about a woman using her skills to survive a traumatic event, while also being flawed was sacrificed for a twist-ending and one last joke.  But the movie was still incredibly enjoyable.  and alien fashion lowkey fug.