I tried to explain the films of 52-year-old Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite, Poor Things) to colleagues at work… with limited success.  They’re warped, messed up, and can’t be summarised easily.  You need to watch yourself and then see if his dystopian worlds and dark humour gel with your own sensibilities.  I’m an admirer of his work, primarily for the memorability and wacky entertainment value, but his movies can drag.  Subplots are dragged out longer than necessary and humour is repeated.

The same could be said of Bugonia, his latest feature which recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival.  Marking the 4^th time she’s worked with Lanthimos, the film stars Oscar-winner Emma Stone (Poor Things) as Michelle Fuller, a fast-paced, hard-working CEO for a large pharmaceutical company.  She is kidnapped by two men, played by Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog) and newcomer Aidan Delbis, and tied up in the basement of a remote home.

They’re not seeking a ransom or making a political statement.  Rather, the duo are conspiracy theorists who, after reading a plethora of online forums, believe Michelle is a part of an alien race who will soon destroy the planet.  They shave her head (believing hair is a communication tool) and demand that when the lunar eclipse occurs in four days’ time, Michelle take them aboard her spaceship and help them negotiate Earth’s survival with the alien leaders.

There’s a lot to like about Bugonia.  I relished the back-and-forth power games between Stone and Plemons’ respective characters as they each try to get the upper hand.  She can’t physically strike back (she’s tied up) but, if she plays along with his games and pretends to be an alien, could she gain his trust and her freedom?  The humour is incredibly dark but the best subplot in the film involves a local police officer, played by comedian Stavros Halkias (Tires), with a questionable past.  The arc he’s able to develop in just two scenes is brilliant.

The screenplay is somewhat contrived and while I enjoyed the visuals in the closing sequence, I wasn’t sold on the finale (I won’t spoil).  The more you think about it, the less sense if makes.  Further, we don’t develop a sufficiently thorough understanding of the protagonists.  Black-and-white flashbacks add flecks of backstory but, given their limited intelligence, why are the kidnappers so certain of their conspiracy theory-like views?  With regards to Michelle, we know little about the company or her leadership style except for a repetitive joke about what time staff can clock-off of an afternoon.        

Based on a 2003 South Korean film, Bugonia held my attention for the two-hour running time but it’s far from being Yorgos Lanthimos’s best work.