Format: Streaming video from Peacock on Fire!
Of all the Best Picture nominees, Bugonia is the one that I’ve been putting off. Before you correct me and say that there’s at least one available streaming that I haven’t seen, I acknowledge that, but Bugonia has been available for a long time. The truth is that I don’t like Yorgos Lanthimos films as a rule. In fact, of the four I have seen prior to this one, The Favourite is the only one I can say I’ve actually enjoyed. Honestly, I think that’s a fair justification for why I’ve waited this long.
I also knew that this is a remake of a Korean film called Save the Green Planet!. There was a part of me that thought I should watch the original before I watched the remake. But, at some point, you just need to get the work done, and what that means here is getting through Oscar films. Surprisingly (for me), this gives me 7 out of 10 for Best Picture before the ceremony starts, and it completes me on Best Adapted Screenplay. That’s got to be a record for me.
The plot here is deceptively simple, and can be fully discussed up to spoiler point in just a couple of paragraphs. Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) is a conspiracy theorist who lives with his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Teddy’s mother Sandy (Alicia Silverstone) is in a coma thanks to her participation in a clinical trial for a drug from a company called Auxolith. Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is the CEO of Auxolith, and because of this, Teddy is convinced that Michelle is actually from Andromeda and is plotting to kill off the honeybees, eventually forcing humanity into subservience.
So…Teddy and Don conspire to kidnap Michelle and question her, and somehow make it work. They hide her in their basement, shave her head (so she can’t communicate telepathically with her mothership), and also cover her in antihistamine cream to prevent her from sending out a distress signal to other Andromedans. Teddy is convinced that Michelle is going to contact the Andomedan emperor during a lunar eclipse in just a couple of days. So, the whole film is the cat and mouse between Teddy and Michelle, him trying to get her to admit who she is and arrange a meeting with her emperor, and her trying to escape from someone who has clearly been eating urinal cakes.
And, surprisingly, it works. Bugonia works well. I admit that I didn’t have a lot of hope for it going in, just based on experience, but this is not only the second Lanthimos film that I’ve liked, it might well be the first one that I would consider watching again. Will wonders never cease.
That said, I am wondering if Best Picture is a stretch for it. There are a number of films from 2025 that I like at least this much and a few that I like more than this that wouldn’t get near a nomination. But, it’s not a nomination I hate. What I don’t understand is how Jesse Plemmons was somehow overlooked. Don’t get me wrong—this is very much Emma Stone’s film in a lot of respects, but this film would not be anything close to what it is without the excellent work of Plemmons, who needs to spout some royally insane commentary and needs to do so while being completely believable.
I also rather like how relevant this film is. It would certainly be nice to think that there might be some sort of magical group of aliens out there who could reach down and save us from ourselves, somehow seeing some inherent nobility in us that almost certainly doesn’t exist. That fact is what makes Teddy such an interesting character. He is clearly convinced that he is right about everything. He is clearly willing and happy to commit terrible crimes to reach the ends that he wants to reach, including torturing Michelle with electricity at one point. And yet Teddy is also completely convinced that what he is doing is right and good. And in contrast, Don seems to feel guilty about much of this, but has no compunction swatting Michelle across the back of the head with a rifle butt when necessary. All morality is relative, after all, and while we judge others by their actions, we judge ourselves by our intent.
In terms of story line, Bugonia doesn’t seem that odd coming from the guy who made The Lobster, Poor Things, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. But there’s a part of me that feels like this is even more accessible than a film like The Favourite, which is weird mostly in how it’s portrayed. Yorgos Lanthimos doesn’t seem to do “easy” very often in terms of theme and understandability, so having that from him here is kind of a surprise.
I liked this. I’m a little shocked.
Why to watch Bugonia: For as weird as this is, it might be the most accessible thing I’ve seen from Lanthimos.
Why not to watch: That ending will either work for you or it really won’t.
