"The film focuses on Teddy ( Jesse Plemons) and his cousin, Donny (Aidan Delbis), who swiftly capture Michelle Fuller ( Emma Stone), the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company. Having surfed the dark recesses of the web, consumed a steady diet of conspiracy theories, and done their own 'research,' Teddy is convinced that Michelle is an alien from the Andromeda species and is using her position of power to hasten humanity's destruction."
"The questions they wrestle with buzz around in their minds like the winged insects they care for: How much do we have to own up to when late-stage capitalism has limited our choices? Is violence an adequate vessel to hold our rage? How much are we allowed to blame the world? Right down to its ending, 'Bugonia' argues that the only thing humanity is worthy of inheriting is our own destruction."
"Lanthimos, once again, never shreds an iota of his facetious proclivities even as he unspools this depressing tale. The most banal, commonplace shots (mainly of a raggedy Plemons biking frantically between his home and the hardware store) get paired with a histrionically operatic score courtesy of Jerskin Fendrix, returning from 'Poor Things' and bringing the same madcap energy. And the use of wide shots makes it all feel like something is watching us, waiting in the wings of our corporate offices."
Bugonia follows Teddy and his cousin Donny after they capture Michelle Fuller, the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company. Teddy, having consumed conspiracy theories online, believes Michelle is an Andromedan alien using corporate power to hasten humanity's destruction. He tortures her to extract information to access an Andromedan mothership, claiming the violence will save Earth. The narrative keeps ambiguous whether the conspiracy is real or the captors' delusion. The film interrogates late-stage capitalism, personal pain, accountability, and whether violence can contain rage, while presenting a bleak conclusion that humanity is deserving only of destruction.
Read at Roger Ebert
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