Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
The Garden Cinema View:
Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet! was a strikingly unique film. With disregard for genre, Jang lurched from torture-horror, to social satire, sci-fi action spectacle, and slapstick comedy. Despite such frequent tonal shifts, this chaotic vehicle was ultimately rooted in a powerful ecological and political message. That this still feels so appropriate for 2025 and Bugonia is a testament to Jang’s foresight, the subtle ways in which Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Will Tracy have adjusted the source material, and a bleak indictment of humanity’s inability to solve our existential crises.
Of course, bleakness is oxygen for Lanthimos, and rarely has our own doom been projected for us in such blacky humorous fashion. It might be a remake, but Bugonia is far more contained and controlled than Jang’s film. Lanthimos allows the dark energy to erupt in short bursts, harnessed by a pair of fully committed performances from Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons. It’s an oddly beautiful film to look at, shot on 35mm by Robbie Ryan and some frames are reminiscent of another great modern sci-fi, Under the Skin.
