AbbyNormal Reviews EP6 - Bugonia

Welcome to the sixth episode of AbbyNormal Reviews where I share thoughts on movies I watch.

Today is Bugonia’s turn. I didn’t really like it, sorry not sorry (I’m not a Lanthimos fan)

Bugonia, Lanthimos's remake of Jang Joon-hwan's South Korean film Jigureul jikyeora! tells the story of two young people obsessed with conspiracy theories who kidnap Michelle Fuller, the influential CEO of a large company. Teddy, one of the protagonists, develops the theory that the world is threatened by an alien race from Andromeda and is convinced that Michelle is the perfect extraterrestrial specimen from whom he must extract a confession at all costs.

Like every Lanthimos film, the cinematography is what first catches the eye. Meticulous, clean shots. A visual perfection that accompanies two protagonists who are anything but perfect.

All this is reinforced by the choice of lighting, which is warm for most of the film, especially on Teddy and Don, his cousin, almost as if to give comfort to the two and leave a sense of doubt in the viewer who, if it were not so, would immediately take them for crazy.

But the real protagonist of this film is the music, which accompanies, or rather, guides the scenes and decides the sensations the viewer should experience based on the moment.

Even the longest, widest shots are filled with pathos-inducing instrumental soundtracks, or pop songs such as Good Luck, Babe! on the radio during Michelle's car ride and Basket Case during the experiment, or rather torture, that the two cousins ​​perform on the woman.

The choice of format (Vista Vision - 35mm) was born from the desire to give a sense of spaciousness to the narrow and at times almost claustrophobic settings, contrasting narrow spaces with wider images with the aim of creating a surreal visual experience, and that is exactly what it achieves.

The film is obviously a social critique.

The focus falls on conspiracy theories, yet the film doesn't ridicule paranoid thinking, but uses it to explore real fears: obsession, but also information bubbles, the creation of enemies and the need to believe in something.

It talks about the excessive consumption of articles on the internet that are killing critical thinking, about how human beings are parasites, killing their planet with wars, climate change, the extinction of bees, which is actually a comparison with people being used as guinea pigs for drugs… In short, we suck, and Lanthimos tells us this clearly, pointing a finger in our faces.

He doesn't use subtext to mention familiar problems and therefore makes them obvious and, frankly, almost boring.

I don’t want you to tell me with words “You suck”. I want to be able to tell myself “I suck” thanks to your images. 

Here he basically forgot the “Show, don’t tell” that every writing professor keep telling us, and I don't like this.

A pretentious film, aiming to be topical and socially relevant, but it doesn't really address everything it touches on. It introduces every topic to be applauded, but in reality, it only touches on the surface.

In short, the director wants to spark reflections, but doesn't allow the viewer to do so independently while watching the film, because the dialogue dictates a forced sequence.

The film itself is captivating: there's no downtime, and the visuals and music keep you glued to your seat, despite the bulk of the film happens in the last 40 minutes.

The characters are well written, especially Michelle, who, in addition to Emma Stone's performance, has the most interesting dialogue and the most endearing trait: she always knows the right thing to say to her advantage depending on the situation. This culminates in the ending with the song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone", once again a perfect choice of music. 

I’m not gonna do any spoiler but when i saw the ending i was like “Yeah, it obviously had to end like this”. It was not surprising at all and I found the writing kinda cheap…

From this review you can see that I didn't like the movie very much. I'm still glad I saw it, but I wouldn't watch it again.