Good films are usually comprised of one or more of these components: an excellent story, an engaging script, and standout performances by one or more of the cast members. On the very rare occasion, the stars align and a film can combine all three. When this happens, it can lead to a startling effect.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and writers Will Tracy and Jang Joon-hwan have combined their skills in the creation of Bugonia, and the end result is the creation of an outlier work. Its ability to transform itself and the audience’s expectation time and time again is quite something to behold.
With a brilliantly deranged performance by Jesse Plemons and an equally assertive one by Emma Stone, this is indeed a rare work. Those three virtues mentioned above come together so seamlessly that it heralds a work that demands your attention and pays dividends to those with a taste for the adventurous.
Difficult to categorise in the best possible way and challenging to digest depending on your own sensibilities, Bugonia is a film not to be missed. View it as an exception to the norm and marvel at both its manic energy and bold disregard for type.
Rob Hudson
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