Bugonia
Stavros Halkias my goat
YES FINALLY.
As someone who has seen all the heavily discussed major films released in 2025 (Sinners, OBAA, Marty Supreme, etc.), I found myself quite disappointed by those films being heralded as the best. None of the aforementioned pictures are bad by any stretch, but I felt somewhat unsatisfied. Now I feel vindicated.
Bugonia is an absolute home run. Performances are a good place to start, and with our “core” cast of four, Halkias might be the weakest link, and he’s doing just fine. Jesse Plemons’ performance is probably the first thing you’ll hear out of anyone’s mouth about this film, and it’s with good reason. He’s doing a great job. I also believe Emma Stone was a perfect fit for her respective role.
The cinematography earns major points from me.
The distant cinematography creates a detached feeling and may also allude to our metaphorical distance from this kind of ideology.
There is a lot of good commentary in this film, but some writing choices rug pull these concepts to some degree. I’ll keep it vague so as not to spoil anything, but this is the only semi-gripe I have with the film.
(4.5/5)