Based on the 2003 Korean cult film Save the Green Planet!, this is a macabre take on the excesses of America’s corporate elite and the underclass. Michelle (Emma Stone) is the cold, heartless and ruthless CEO of Auxolith, a powerful pharmaceutical company (though it could as well be one of the silicon valley giants).

Teddy (Jesse Plemons) works in one of the company’s warehouses. He is a part time bee keeper, whose hives are dying off, he suspects due to poisoning by his employer. He is highly mistrustful of the mainstream media, though he does his own research and comes up with the conspiracy crazed view that Michelle is an alien sent to destroy the human race. 

With the help of his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) he kidnaps her and holds her in his basement until he can persuade her and the other aliens to return to Andromeda and leave the earthlings alone. There ensues a manipulative struggle followed by a surprise ending. Michelle has clearly ingested the full dictionary of CEO gobbledygook while Teddy has disappeared far far down an internet rabbit hole. Neither are lovable. Michelle is the exploitative CEO while Teddy manipulates his cousin to his own ends which, despite the dark humour gives the film a pessimistic feel.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos has mastered the art of dark satire. Across his very varied oeuvre, Bugonia could be considered most similar to The Lobster (2015) in that they both combine absurd premises with social satire.

“Pitched expertly on a fulcrum of absurdity and caustic honesty about the fix we’re in while poking the sore spots of various modern social ills” Ty Burr, Boston Globe

“Stone and Plemons prove ideal co-conspirators, with carefully balanced performances that have them taking turns as hero and villain without ever quite annihilating our sympathies or winning them outright.” Robbie Collin, The Telegraph