Yorgos Lanthimos has been hit and miss for me recently. I hated his last film Kinds of Kindness, but I was a big fan of The Lobster, Poor Things and The Favourite. So I was hoping Bugonia would be more like the other ones.

This is also the third team up between Lanthimos and Emma Stone.

Lanthimos’s films have a tendency to be bizarre and this film is not the exception. However, it felt fairly down to earth (pardon the pun). However, the third act really became a wild trip.

According to IMDB, “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.”

I thought this one was solid. I enjoyed the performances by both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, who share most of the screen time.

There is a lot of violence here, especially with Plemons’ character Teddy, but it fit well with the character. The writing is excellent and keeps the uncertainty about what is happening. It looks like it is just about mental illness, but you can tell there is more beneath the surface.

In the end, I really liked this film and I was engaged in everything. Even the wild ending worked for me.

4 stars