Any film with the name Yorgos Lanthimos attached to it means you’re in for one strange and outrageous head trip. Depending upon your sentiments regarding the filmmaker’s, ahem, unique canon—*The Lobster*, *The Favourite*, *Poor Things*, *The Killing of a Sacred Deer*, and so on—you’ll either be super hyped or devoutly disinterested when a new film of his comes out.
*Bugonia* is a different beast, and I’d bet even the filmmaker’s staunchest detractors might find a kernel or two to savor in this latest insane and insanely brilliant concoction. It promises to be one of the wildest cinematic rides of 2025. That said, *Bugonia* does stick to the Lanthimos surreal playbook, hurling out shocks, reveling in abundant weirdness, and dousing everything in dark humor.
Surprisingly, the screenplay is written by someone else: hotshot Will Tracy (*Succession*, *The Menu*). His seamless script springboards off the 2003 Korean film *Save the Planet!*. But Lanthimos doesn’t always write his films’ screenplays. In fact, some of his best works, including *Poor Things* and *The Favourite*, were penned by others.
With *Bugonia*, the loopy twists, turns, and unexpected trap-door gotchas bind together and orbit a parable that taps into an irritated, angry zeitgeist—much like the creatively inspired and culturally relevant *One Battle After Another*.
The plot presents a focused scenario—but don’t be fooled by its simplicity. An unstable “worker bee,” so to speak, named Teddy (Jesse Plemons, getting a chance to flex his acting might) and his sidekick cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) launch their crackpot alien conspiracy theories by kidnapping Michelle (Oscar-winner and frequent Lanthimos collaborator Emma Stone, delivering another awards-caliber performance), the CEO of a pharmaceutical bioengineering company.
The two buffoons shave her head, chain her in the basement of a messy remote home, and accuse her of being an alien. The shrewd, mostly composed Michelle subjects both men to an earful of strategized corporate speak as she tries to finagle her way out of this mess. Michelle is a heartless professional who sees this as a battle of wits (herself) versus dimwits (her captors). As the days inch closer to a lunar eclipse, Teddy grows increasingly antsy.
That’s about all you should know about *Bugonia*, which morphs into something far more extraordinary than its mostly confined-space thriller trappings.
The performances are exceptional across the board, including Stavros Halkias as a cop who once babysat Teddy. The fine-tuned production values, mesmerizing cinematography (filmed in extra-defined VistaVision), wardrobe choices (Plemons’ grungy clothes and Stone’s pricey couture reveal much about their characters), and the mood-appropriate score from Jerskin Fendrix (*Poor Things*) heighten and accentuate Tracy’s screenplay.
All these excellent, exacting details coexist harmoniously to produce one of Lanthimos’s best films yet—a movie of startling ingenuity that also doubles as a humorous but pointed warning to us all.
**Details:**
Rating: 4 stars out of 4
Rated: R (bloody, violent scenes including a suicide, language)
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
When & Where: Opens in select theaters Oct. 24, expands Oct. 31
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/10/21/review-add-bugonia-to-yorgos-lanthimos-resume-of-strange-compelling-films/
