Bugonia

BUGONIA
2025 | Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos | 118 Minutes

"I became a human being that I told myself I would never become."

A desperate man kidnaps a powerful titan of industry, convinced that she is an alien from outer space secretly plotting to destroy the human race.

Adapted from Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 dark comedy Save the Green Planet!, Yorgos Lanthimos' fourth collaboration with star Emma Stone puts conspiracy theorists under a microscope for decidedly more chilling than hilarious effect. As depicted in the film through Lanthimos' signature deadpan style, more terrifying than any space alien is one deeply hurt human being's unflinching vindictive focus on pinning his misfortunes on others by way of spiraling headlong into magical thinking. The fear in Stone's eyes in her portrayal of the abducted CEO Michelle is palpable. Jesse Plemons' Teddy chooses to believe he is on a noble mission to free the world from the control of extraterrestrials by means of kidnapping, torture, murder, and even domestic terrorism, rather than confront and process his own trauma and grief. The narrative's final twist does not diminish the impact of the picture's social commentary through-line. If anything, Teddy's actions leading to the extinction of humankind in order to allow the planet to heal perfectly serves as one final gut-punch.

Lanthimos frames Bugonia in a claustrophobic 3:2 aspect ratio, immediately creating a consistent feeling of unease. The heated exchanges between Teddy and Michelle that make up a significant portion of the feature are all the more intense, as are the punctuating sudden bursts of violence. The high-contract color palette of the picture further heightens the extreme emotions primed to explode at any given moment.

Emma Stone makes for an excellent win-at-all-costs negotiator who never lets slip her true feelings despite dire peril. Jesse Plemons gives a heartbreakingly earnest performance as a man horrifyingly entrenched in rather baffling beliefs. Aidan Delbis also stands out as Teddy's sweet and loyal cousin Don delivering some of the funniest line readings of the picture.

There is a potent contemporary tragedy residing just under the surface of the seemingly quirky premise of Bugonia. The material is arguably a perfect match for dark comedy auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. While it is a rather adaptation of a film released two decades before its own debut, depicting acts of domestic terror committed by the unhinged disenfranchised hits harder now more than ever and, at times, more challenging to digest than ever.


FRAGMENTS
- Showing some real commitment to the role, Emma Stone actually shaved her head to play Michelle

- It almost goes without saying that Jesse Plemons is a natural when it comes to playing awkward and/or creepy white dudes

- Aidan Delbis, not a professionally trained actor, is also a natural

- The finale not only confirms that extraterrestrials from Andromeda are manipulating the human race but also that the Earth is indeed flat

Hoppers

HOPPERS
2026 | Dir. Daniel Chong | 105 Minutes

"It's hard to be mad when you feel like you're part of something big."

Since her youth, Mabel Tanaka has more compassion for animals than human beings. When an industrious mayor threatens to build a freeway over Mabel's beloved glade, the young woman takes matters into her own hands, using experimental technology to place her consciousness inside a beaver body and rallying the animal kingdom to take action leading to unforeseen consequences.

Using a simple and fun story concept to its full potential, Hoppers is an entertaining and exceptionally funny film. The heightened emotions of its perpetually exasperated animal-loving protagonist naturally leads to brash decisions for maximum hijinks. Where the Pixar magic really shines is in the picture's central tenet of finding inner peace through the practice of empathetic coexistence, delivering this concept in accessible terms without sacrificing depth or amusement.

Pixar is known for pushing the envelope for cinematic animation as an artistic medium, but objectively no scene in Hoppers goes above and beyond on a technical level. However, in terms of comedy, scene-for-scene it's genuinely one of the funniest films crafted by the studio. The over-the-top introductions of the monarchs of the animal kingdom as they arrive to a fateful council meeting is a series of absurd delights. A memorably madcap chase scene featuring the airborne deployment of an oceanic apex predator precariously carried by a flock of birds in hot pursuit of a sports car racing down a mountain road is arguably the most hilarious sequence in the Pixar entire filmography to date. The climax in which the animal kingdom dismantle a dam to stop a wildfire is awe-inspiring and emotionally satisfying.

Piper Curda brings the perfect amount of feistiness as the environmental activist Mabel, even more comically frantic in robot beaver form. As the Mammal King George, Bobby Moynihan is a natural fit for the role of a laid-back animated beaver. The actors lending their voices to the central antagonists are also very funny, with Jon Hamm as the devious Mayor Jerry and Dave Franco as the mad Insect King. Though the apex predator's appearance is all too brief, Vanessa Bayer steals the show as the overly cheerful shark Diane. The strong supporting cast is rounded out by Eduardo Franco as the zoned out beaver Loaf, Melissa Villaseñor as the grumpy bear Ellen, and Tom Law as the fun-loving Tom Lizard.

Pixar's wackiest comedy to date, Hoppers is a delightful sci-fi treat packed with an abundance of solid jokes. Beyond the plentiful laughs, the film features an emotionally resonant story that promotes the importance of environmental preservation and empathy for all living things. While it may not be the most technically groundbreaking picture, its clever knockoff-Avatar premise and consistently hilarious animal characters make it one of the famed animation studio's strongest features in recent years.


FRAGMENTS
- Mabel's crazed expressions very much remind me of the faces made by Hayao Miyazaki character when they get worked up

- Granted her voice is pitched way up, Meryl Streep is unrecognizable to me as the Insect Queen

- Posthumously released after his passing, character actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. plays the Bird King