Best Picture Binge - Focus's Bugonia

Of all the abductions, this one is different.

Bugonia is a 2025 science fiction black comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, written by Will Tracy, produced by Element Pictures, Square Peg, CJ ENM, Pith, and Fruit Tree Entertainment, and distributed by CJ ENM and Focus Features. The film is an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 film, Save the Green Planet!. It stars Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. It was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Stone), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

"I know who you are. I know what you are." - Teddy Gatz

Plot

Teddy Gatz and his cousin, Don, are alien hunters. When Teddy becomes suspicious of the CEO of his company, he and Don kidnap her and try to prevent the aliens from destroying Earth.

The Sweet

Bugonia was the movie I was dreading watching the most of this year's nominees. I am, simply put, not a Yorgos Lanthimos fan. I like to enjoy watching movies, and the movies he makes aren't really designed to be that. They are these intentionally awkward or uncomfortable films that are often incredibly bizarre, and it just doesn't work with me. He feels like a combination of the quirkiness of Wes Anderson with the darkness and discomfort of Stanley Kubrick, but I don't find that those two things mesh together very well. I hated Poor Things from a few years back, so I was just not looking forward to this one at all.

And I have to say...I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.

I think Bugonia is still likely to be my least favorite of the Best Picture nominees this year, just because it isn't my type of movie, but I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected to. I actually think the central plot works incredibly well with Lanthimos's style. Part of what I hated about Poor Things was the way the comedy was executed, because I just thought it was too dark or too cynical to be funny. Bugonia is inherently a much funnier concept, and our two leads are designed to be very over-the-top, comedic characters. I found myself laughing a lot more than I expected to in this movie, which was, like much of it, a pleasant surprise.

Really the best part of this movie, however, are the performances. This movie hinges on Jesse Plemmons and Emma Stone, and they are, unsurprisingly, the thing that makes this film work. They have this crackling antagonistic energy that I found to be really enthralling. They find ways to take the bizarre dialogue and weird way that these characters speak and make it feel organic. They work beautifully as foils to each other: Plemmons is this half-crazy conspiracy theorist that has kidnapped Stone, while Stone remains incredibly collected and calm throughout. The cherry on top of these two is Aidan Delbis, who plays Don, the cousin. He is designed to be much more endearing and innocent than our two main characters, and I think his role as almost the mediadator between the two of them really worked.

This movie also knows how to deliver some uncomfortable or really heart-wrenching shocks. For almost the entire runtime, this movie is dialogue-heavy and focuses on the tension between the two leads...and then the third act gets so wild and crazy and has graphic, graphic violence that is just completely out of the blue, but it works. With the world established and the tensions that we've seen throughout, the crazy third act feels earned.

I also think that this movie finds a very creative way to visualize these dialogue scenes. Again, a lot of this movie is the back-and-forth between Stone and Plemmons, but there's some really incredible cinematography even though there's not a ton of action. I love it when a director or a cinematographer is able to take something static and make it look cool, and Bugonia has a lot of that.

The Sour

Bugonia still has a lot of the Yorgos-isms that I really don't like. They just didn't bother me as much because I was enjoying other parts of the film more than I expected. There's a whole subplot about Jesse Plemmons's mom (who is randomly played by Alicia Silverstone, which I didn't realize until researching the film after I watched it) that feels nonsensical and pointless. It does pay off in the third act, but when we actually see these flashbacks with her...I honestly had zero clue what I was looking at. The whole movie is undeniably strange and bizarre, but this subplot felt extra strange and overtly bizarre in a way that really didn't work for me.

The final twists and reveals that we got worked for me...but they only worked because they were so predictable. I won't spoil what happens, obviously, but it felt like the whole movie was building towards this being the ultimate reveal. If they didn't have this final twist, the movie wouldn't have worked. And, yet, it is treated as this huge, unpredictable final button, but that's not really what it is.

There's also a really off-putting subplot about this cop that used to babysit Jesse Plemmons. I have absolutely zero clue what this specific subplot had to do with the main story, but it felt completely disconnected from everything else. The cop discusses his past relationship with Jesse Plemmons's character, and it's played as ambiguous, but they hint at some really unsettling and disturbing things that just felt unnecessary and crude. I guess this subplot serves to give more dimensions to Plemmons, but it really did not work for me. It distracted from the main plot and really made me uncomfortable (very much in the way that all of Poor Things did).

And the fact of the matter is that I will never really like Yorgos Lanthimos's style. I know I said that earlier, but I just want to re-iterate it here. There's a low ceiling when I watch a Yorgos movie, because his way of telling stories just does not mesh with my way of experiencing them. I honestly think Bugonia hit the ceiling for a Yorgos movie. I liked this film, but I'd never choose to rewatch it. If I watch another Yorgos movie, I will go in with the same hesitations and expectations that I won't like it. His style simply does not work for me. And, while Bugonia was a much more entertaining and interesting experience for me than Poor Things, it still has that style and discomfort that I don't enjoy while watching these movies. That's just personal taste. If you like Yorgos Lanthimos, that's great. He just does not work for me.

Does It Deserve Its Best Picture Nomination?

You know what? Yes. Color me shocked, because I did not expect to say that going into this movie, but Bugonia is absolutely worthy of a Best Picture nod. Just because Yorgos Lanthimos movies are not my cup of tea does not mean they are bad movies. He has a very unique voice in cinema, and I think a movie like this should absolutely get nominated for Best Picture.

Side note: I have zero clue how Jesse Plemmons did not get a Best Actor nomination. It's a strong year, but I personally would've nominated him over Wagner Moura.

Final Thoughts and Score

Is Bugonia one of the best movies I've ever seen? Of course not. Is it an entertaining, uniquely weird movie that I enjoyed way more than I expected to? Absolutely.

I am going Savory here. Age range is 14+.

SWEET N' SOUR SCALE

Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad)

Moldy (Terrible)

"Bugonia"

Fun Factor: 7/10

Acting: 9/10

Story: 6/10

Characters: 7/10

Quality: 7.5/10

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, frightening themes and images, thematic elements

Released on October 24, 2025

1 hour and 58 minutes

Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller

Jesse Plemmons as Teddy Gatz

Aidan Delbis as Don

Stavros Halkias as Casey Boyd

Alicia Silverstone as Sandy Gatz