BUGONIA

The premise is simple enough.  Two conspiracy-theorist devise a plan to kidnap the CEO of a pharmaceutical agro-corporation because they believe she is an alien and by kidnapping her, they can strike a deal with her leaders to leave planet earth and save mankind.

Ok, sure but that begs the question in this modern age how does one distinguish a human from an alien or that they even exist to begin with?  The easy answer… the Internet.  At least it is for the leader of this operation, Teddy (Jessie Plemons) as he has discovered the dark truth behind the façade of the Auxolith Corporation.

Teddy is a simple-minded country guy who has lost most of his family over time to what he believes, the poisoning of sorts from big-pharma greed.   By way of his own intensive internet-sleuthing he not only discovers these corporations are conducing inhuman testing of people but that they are in fact aliens, Andromities, sent to control the human race.

It’s up to Teddy and his cousin Don, (dimwitted but loveable) to save the world by kidnapping Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) and have her take them to the emperor via transport on the night of the lunar eclipse.

Fuller is the typical, modern CEO.  Up by 4am for yoga, martial arts, etc before the work-day even begins, oblivious to the thought that two young country bumpkins have uncovered her real identity and plan to overthrow the Andromities grand schemes. 

After a day at work she drives back home where unbeknownst to her, the plot takes shape and there are two men dressed in black robes and Jenifer Aniston cutout faces there to kidnap her.

After a brief struggle they apprehend and drug her, immediately shaving her head in the get away vehicle for fear she’ll use the hair to send out a distress signal to her clan.  Apparently that’s what this alien race does according to numerous deep-web articles… you can see where this is going.

The fun and drama from here is figuring out how crazy these two men are or is there actually something to their theories.  I can’t go into specifics but it’s a quite entertaining back and forth between hostage and captives and it’s hard not to wonder to yourself during the course of this film if you’re watching the origins of how serial-killers go about their madness or is it a fantasy of the poor and destitute rising up against the corporate elite to level their own brand of justice?

You don’t want to root for the crazy but it’s hard not to be sympathetic at times.

But the film does present the question to the viewer what if?  What if we’re not alone, what if there are large conspiracy’s abound in this world that are true and what if these crazed individuals are humanities last hope?

 The ease at which Teddy goes about his procedures, fully confident in what he already knows about the aliens and his captive lends to the mystery of how this dark comedy plays out.  A tortured soul wanting to do right by his family, his mother and the world and his poor pray, a self-made woman that rose up the corporate ladder running a multi-billion dollar business. 

Emma stone once again nails the landing in this Yorgos Lanthimos film, striking the cold, direct, un-emotional CEO type that wilts away over the progression of her captivity into a person that we can connect with, that her captives can connect with.  Complex and emotional just like us… or is it just a ruse?

You’ll have to see to find out.  But I will say you’ll have a great time along the way.