Bugonia

i genuinely am unsure of what i just watched, was that a twist or i am fucking stupid? i love that yorgos is back making mindfuck movies, hes so weird it brings the cinema u watch it with into a self inflicted trauma bond. was suprised by how ridiculously hilarious this is. emma stone genuinely might be in the running for a third oscar. jesse plemons DESERVES that fucking award. (who tf is leo anyway). aidan delbis is also heartbreakingly amazing. this is undoubtable top 4 material for me. the biggest factor that took this movie from being an offbeat black comedy to a genuine spectacle is jerskin fendrix’s score. the consistent ear grating noise feels like it should overshadow what is on screen but it uplifts it in a mind boggling fashion. the themes in this film are explored and broken, the main themes that sticks out is the political aspects of this film, especially in the first 60-90 mins. we see a fairly unethical CEO, juxtaposed to the “antagonists” teddy and don, they are depressed and desperate for a better life, unfortunately it becomes clear teddy has got himself down some alt-right pipeline, and some conspiracy threads on reddit, this leads onto him believing michelle is secretly an alien, due to this he kidnaps and tortures her. despite initial protest she begins to “confess” that she IS an alien and that teddy is right. as the plot progresses we get more background on teddys character, we find out that his mum is very sick and being “treated” by michelle’s company, it is also alluded to that his childhood babysitter turned cop sexually assaulted him. the first half of this film can look like a scathing read of incel culture, but i feel the genuine humanisation in showing how teddy got to such a miserable place makes the film much more interesting. although i do think it thrives when showing the hypocrisy and lack of humanity in teddy. showing how utterly close minded he is to michelle and the possibility of her not being an alien sent to destroy the earth is when the film is at it’s funniest. i think a lot can be said about why ‘save the green planet’ is being remade today. but i think anyone who misses the parallel between the maga/reform movement to alienate immigrants and the way teddy uses ‘its just an alien’ as a rationale to torture her is missing one of the big reasons i believe its being redone. the other side of the torture duo is don, an autistic man who relies on teddy, both emotionally and with his neurodivergence. we can tell from the start that don doesn’t actually believe what teddy is claiming, his blasé attitude to the process in the beginning to his sympathy/guilt when seeing michelle get tortured, this becomes apparent in one scene where teddy is talking to his ex baby sitter up the stairs while don keeps michelle in the basement with a gun. by this point in the film don’s depression has become an unsubtle undertone of his character, so when michelle starts telling him he could get out of this situation and ‘start again’ he is minorly excited, we see him come round to the idea of ‘giving up’ and bringing michelle up to the cop. as this conversation starts circling he makes her promise to take him up in her spaceship to start fresh, this is taken as naivety when he first says it, seconds later he shoots himself in the neck. this twist not only adds so much more depth to everything don said/done, but is one of the most shocking moments in the film, getting a audible gasp from almost everyone in my showing. this sets up perfectly for the chaos of the third act. and holy what the fuck. the constant inability to tell whether or not michelle is lying makes u feel on a knives edge. personally i thought she was lying. so the shock i got seeing teddys decapitated head fly into her scared the living shit out of me. i am actually quite unsure on the ending. i can really see why she chose to destroy humanity, dont get me wrong, her talking to the other aliens was absurd in the best way, and the actual ending sequence is great, in story though, im not sure i understand the intentions in it.  despite that, i fucking loved this. the constant surrealism. the main 3 performances. THE SCORE. it combines to be a great look into a growing portion of young men while still being a hilarious and engaging film.  truly lanthimos’ best. see this on the biggest screen possible. being surrounded by people passionate about film made this feel even more special, there was a buzz from the minute we entered the building till the crowd outside dispersed.