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
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

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.

Bugonia stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone and will be released in Aussie cinemas October 30!
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

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.

Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone, Bugonia will be released in Aussie cinemas October 30!

www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

A lot of your enjoyment of Eddington will be based on how much you’ve recovered from that undeniably bleak period of time. The film successfully ties in so many elements of the wildness that swept the world then. These include conspiracy theories, government over governance and the big bad that lurks behind all unexplained plot points in films such as this. It’s an intoxicating medley.

Set in a small, downwardly mobile town in New Mexico, Eddington has seen better days. The current mayor, Ted Garcia, played against character by Pedro Pascal, has high hopes of bringing the town back to life by building a massive tech centre out in the scrub. His COVID mandates and the impact the centre will have on the community have divided the population. The uncertainty of the times has also created a militant attitude among the local teens.

The film mines so many of the extremes of that period of time, it would seem to struggle to have a unified theme, but as things progress, it trades sense for overkill and just gets more and more extreme. This gives Phoenix the platform to do what he does best and match the mania, note for note. The ironic ending when it lands feels just about right, filtered through the sensibilities of our current state of the world.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

Eddington stars Joaquin Phoenix as small-town sheriff Joe Cross, who runs for mayor when progressive incumbent Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) attempts to modernize their dusty hamlet by attracting a new artificial-intelligence data center. Aster’s fourth feature takes the form of a classic showdown between two opposing forces over the future of Eddington, New Mexico (population 2,345), as spiraling conspiracies and standoffs derail a citizenry pushed to the brink.

Featuring an ensemble supporting cast of townspeople grappling with a changing world, EDDINGTON also stars Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Amélie Hoeferle, Cameron Mann, and Matt Gomez Hidaka.

More than anything, the film is driven by the absurdity of everything that came out of that summer and the five years that followed. EDDINGTON frequently plays out as a dark comedy, be- cause after all, if you can’t laugh at today’s American circus, you’ll surely cry.

Eddington will be released in Aussie cinemas August 21!
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone.

Bugonia is coming to cinemas soon!
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

EDDINGTON stars Joaquin Phoenix as small-town sheriff Joe Cross, who runs for mayor when progressive incumbent Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) attempts to modernize their dusty hamlet by attracting a new artificial-intelligence data center. Aster’s fourth feature takes the form of a classic showdown between two opposing forces over the future of Eddington, New Mexico (population 2,345), as spiraling conspiracies and standoffs derail a citizenry pushed to the brink.

Featuring an ensemble supporting cast of townspeople grappling with a changing world, EDDINGTON also stars Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Micheal Ward, Clifton Collins Jr., William Belleau, Amélie Hoeferle, Cameron Mann, and Matt Gomez Hidaka.

More than anything, the film is driven by the absurdity of everything that came out of that summer and the five years that followed. EDDINGTON frequently plays out as a dark comedy, be- cause after all, if you can’t laugh at today’s American circus, you’ll surely cry.
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

KINDS OF KINDNESS is a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

The film releases in Australian cinemas July 11, 2024.
www.facebook.com/20thCenturyStudiosAUNZ/

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Based on the book by Alasdair Gray, the screenplay was written by Tony McNamara, making this the second collaboration between Lanthimos and McNamara (THE FAVOURITE). The movie was produced by Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Emma Stone.
www.facebook.com/20thCenturyStudiosAUNZ/

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Based on the book by Alasdair Gray, the screenplay was written by Tony McNamara, making this the second collaboration between Lanthimos and McNamara (THE FAVOURITE). The movie was produced by Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Emma Stone.
www.biff.com.au