Bugonia (2025) ****

 

This was one of 2025's Oscar nominated films that I hadn't gotten around to watching yet. I guess I was put off by the weird title and the image of Emma Stone's shaved head. I finally resolved to do my homework, and I'm glad I did.

Stone plays Michelle, a Big Pharma CEO who speaks corporate speak and wants to be the kind of leader who puts values over profits, but at the end of the day, she's just the biggest cog in a machine. Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis) are cousins who blame that machine for their sad, low-rent lives. Teddy pressures Don, who is developmentally-delayed, to help him kidnap Michelle. His motive is not ransom or even murder, however. Teddy is convinced that Michelle is one of many aliens who live among us, secretly running and destroying the world. The cousins kidnap Michelle, shave her head (to keep her from signaling her mother-ship), and attempt to negotiate Earth's fate with her, while Michelle just tries to figure out how to survive.

“Bugonia” is an English-language remake of the South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!” Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos ("Poor Things"), with a screenplay by Will Tracy ("The Menu"), the film has a strong pedigree of dark comedy, and it lives up to it. Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone (even with her shaved head) are riveting. Stavros Halkias ("Let's Start a Cult") puts in an excellent, nuanced supporting performance. I'd say Aidan Delbis steals the show, though. Delbis is autistic himself, and his conflicted portrayal of Don, who is torn between his conscience and his loyalty to his cousin, is heartbreaking.

As for that weird title, it's a nod to the film's environmental themes. Bugonia was supposedly an ancient Greek folk practice in which farmers would sacrifice an ox, believing that bees would spontaneously generate from its corpse.

4 stars out of 5

With “Bugonia”, I have watched the majority of last year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture. It may be tough to complete the list. “The Secret Agent” looks okay, so I'll probably check it out. “Hamnet” looks long and boring, and I really don't feel compelled to watch that Timothee Chalamet movie about ping-pong. I mean, maybe if it were pickle-ball!