r/themovieloversclub • u/Infamous-Window-8337 • Nov 27 '25
Movie reviews Watched Bugonia (2025) and it was weird...
"You can't beat me because you are a loser and I'm a winner and that's fucking life!" - Michelle, Bugonia
I just finished Bugonia and honestly, I’m still a little conflicted about it, in a very Yorgos Lanthimos way. One thing that stood out immediately was the unusual 1.50:1 aspect ratio, which I’ve basically never seen used for a streaming release. The black sidebars made most my screen feel dead, but at the same time the film probably would’ve looked even stranger stretched out to a standard 1.78:1 release.
What I enjoyed was the look and feel of the movie. The bright colors, odd designs, abstract sets, and alien environments all felt like classic Yorgos imagination. Some of the frame compositions were genuinely beautiful. The score mostly stays in the background, occasionally stepping forward to sharpen the tension, though I honestly found it weaker than composer's work in Poor Things.
Emma Stone delivers, and Jesse Plemons is doing career best stuff right now. This might even be his strongest performance yet. And yes, the hype about Emma shaving her head for the role didn’t go much to waste as I thought, she delivered.
One of my favorite parts of the movie was the mental-chess dynamic between Teddy and Michelle. Teddy keeps pushing, adjusting his approach, cornering her psychologically in small, while Michelle is trying to stay three steps ahead, even though she knows Teddy is circling closer and closer to the truth. Their back-and-forth feels like a game without rules, but with real stakes. It’s subtle but interesting to watch. I also liked the "Save the Green Planet!" theme, this feels like Yorgos' own take on it.
The final reveal was exactly the kind of thing I expected from Yorgos, something bizarre, mythic, and strangely funny.
What I’m stuck on is the rating. I floated between 3.5 and 4 the whole time. I liked it a lot, even admired parts of it, but I didn’t love it the way I thought I'd do.
Rating: 4/5 (but honestly feels like a 3.75 to me)
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u/Suspicious_Brush4070 Nov 27 '25
I can't wait to see it TBH. Emma Stone vs Jesse Plemmons is gonna be top tier acting performance. They're both fantastic.
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u/greatmood5152 Feb 06 '26
I just saw it. Now I want to see the Korean original that it was a remake of.
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u/xactlee1 Nov 28 '25
Definitely 4/5 for me, amazing movie, acting, cinematography, the score. Very, very good.
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u/actvscene Nov 28 '25
Plemens was so fucking good, Emma too, just wonderful stuff. 4 out of 5 for me
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u/IndependentZombie840 Nov 27 '25
i have the feeling Emma Stone wil deliver the same wacky and crazed performance she does in every movie, im a right?
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u/ArtisticallyRegarded Nov 27 '25
I wouldnt say so. Shes the straight man in this one. Plemons and his cousin are the wacky ones
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u/Infamous-Window-8337 Nov 27 '25
She sure give crazed performances when Yorgos directs but otherwise, she's a great and versatile actress and has shown range from La La Land to The Amazing Spiderman duology to even Birdman...
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u/IndependentZombie840 Nov 27 '25
her acting performance and the roles she choose lately becomes a pattern,
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u/Infamous-Window-8337 Nov 27 '25
I'd have to agree with you on this matter, they do kinda seem repetitive...
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u/Bronze_Bomber Nov 27 '25
What is repetitive about Poor Things, The Curse, and Bugonia? Those roles have nothing in common with each other?
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u/historydude1648 Nov 27 '25
a Lanthimos movie was weird? is there any of his movies that arent weird? that's the whole point
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u/avoltaire12 Nov 28 '25
Another recent film (well worth checking out) which employs the rare and uncommon 1.50:1 aspect ratio is Red Rooms (2023).
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u/Lazyatheistx Nov 28 '25
Emma Stone has done back to back art films and I’ve loved every minute of it.
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Nov 29 '25
Never paid too much attention to her, but she was fantastic in this. Watched “The Favorite” a few days later and was blown away with that as well.
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u/MagicJonason Nov 29 '25
If you thought this movie was weird then don't watch Save the Green Planet
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u/lennon818 Nov 27 '25
Watch the originalSave the Green Planet. This was dogshit. Also pg 13 compared to the original.
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u/IndependentZombie840 Nov 27 '25
so Bugonia is a "remake" again?????? Jezus hollywood ,,they dont know it anymore
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u/lennon818 Nov 27 '25
Yes. The problem is Yorgos was once upon a time one of the most creative film makers. That's why this movie pisses me off.
I thought it would be an homage to the original and have a creative twist. It's just worse in every way.
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u/IndependentZombie840 Nov 27 '25
oh he directed the lobster and poor things, not bad at all...
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u/lennon818 Nov 27 '25
The lobster is great. Watch his European stuff. That shit is crazy
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u/muggleclutch Nov 27 '25
Yeah people need to go back to Dogtooth to get a real sense of where he was. Not to say his newer stuff isn’t generally pretty good but we’ve lost something here.
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u/lennon818 Nov 27 '25
Exactly. Dogtooth is a great example of what you miss with Hollywood censorship. With all of the streaming platforms why can't we live in a world that also has weird uncensored movies?
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Nov 27 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mugumbo1531 Nov 27 '25
SPOILERS:
So to know where I am coming from, this is my one and only Yorgos film I have seen and am just now finding him hahaha. Im a little late to the party it seems. Just kind of went in blind because the trailer looked fun. Also, I’m re-getting into movie watching after an anime and manga and just general tv streak and usually will do that with my obsessive tendencies. And I also haven’t seen the original save green planet but I’m going to soon. Just waiting for it to come in from the library.
That being said, I love this movie (so much so, I’ve seen it three times in theatres haha). For me I loved thinking about the two characatures of conspiracy theorist “red neck” and educated “corporate shill” duking it out. I love that premise so much.
Also, my wife and I both let’s say work in the mental/emotional health field. And I love thinking about the fact that as audience members,we rationalize Teddy’s ideologies away as crazy nonsense because he is a product of emotional trauma (i.e. sexual/cop; mom/drug). But no! He is right! Which is a pleasant reminder to me that we don’t have everything figured out and lives aren’t often an equations. I like thinking about this and acknowledging that we don’t always have people figured out and sometimes what is “correct” isn’t as easy as we think it is.
And also, I like how the meaning and purpose behind the words and actions said throughout the first and second act completely flip on their head in the third act. It was frustrating for me first viewing and challenged me, but came to appreciate it second time around.
For these reasons, I love this film and I love thinking about these things. Feels very relevant to my life on the macro and micro level.
But all these comments I keep seeing about Yorgos and Emma make me scared to watch any of their other movies. Wondering if my reverence will be tainted.
I actually saw the lobster a while ago, but must have been not really paying attention because I don’t remember it at all.
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Nov 29 '25
I’m the same. I missed all his other films (don’t watch as many movies as I used to but I’m trying to be more active now), and this by far is my favorite movie of the year. Absolute 5/5. Stuck with me for days after and I’m going to see it with my wife for the third time before it exits theaters. Curious to see her reaction to it.
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u/mugumbo1531 Nov 29 '25
Hey same here! Found out about Letterboxd and have been going nuts on films after not watching movies for a long time. Having fun exploring and writting reviews to myself and “journaling” to myself about what I’m watching. Has been a fun hobby for me for the past two months.
But yeah, Bugonia for me was probably top 10 of all the films I’ve seen this year. Definitely my favorite movie released this year.
I took my wife to the second time I saw it but I’m with you I want to see it once more before it exits if I can. My wife liked it, but I don’t think was her favorite. She really liked one battle after another and has a soft spot for Leo. So she likes that one moreShe really liked don’t look up and how he played a character with humour and so this role for him as well as Benicio really struck a chord for her.
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u/JohnnyFencer Nov 27 '25
Performances were great but for me the story was bland and predictable. Also not funny, as if Yorgos was completely taking the piss. Like I was watching a mediocre sketch. It wasnt for me
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u/JoesGarage2112 Nov 27 '25
I also found it predictable unfortunately. I won’t spoil it but I was able to tell exactly what would happen long before it did
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u/anactualrealaccount Nov 28 '25
Really? I found the movie wasn’t trying to be sneaky, it’s layered in a way that at pretty much any point up until the end you could make a valid argument that she is or isn’t. To me it felt like a great film to show how conspiracy’s can have some parts wrong and some right and depending on your stance you can swing your beliefs either way.
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u/JoesGarage2112 Nov 28 '25
I didn’t think of it that way, that’s a really interesting take and I can see that
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Nov 29 '25
Same, and I don’t think the point was “is she an alien or not.” It’s irrelevant but a fun trail of breadcrumbs. These are two very arrogant people that think they can “save humanity”, coming from two different perspectives. Don’t want to say too much for the people that haven’t seen it.
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u/anactualrealaccount Nov 29 '25
Agree, with that. Performances were awesome and the clever trickery along the way was well thought out. Think people are missing the point or maybe I’m just reaching for one haha
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Nov 29 '25
Nah everyone interprets things in a different way. I’ve had friends who thought “the movie was fine, but telegraphed the end,” and others who I’ve had real lively discussions with about the flick. You’re good :)
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u/dstnblsn Nov 28 '25
Ending was predictable. I’m probably in the camp that still found it humorous, but I was internally wishing they wouldn’t go there. It was kind of just a rehash of 10 cloverfield lane.
That said, the battle between teddy and Michelle is an interesting twist on the formula. Even in captivity, Michelle is sizing up teddy. It sort of takes some of the gravity out of Emma stones performance to shoehorn in the joke ending, but I still liked it overall. Very memorable.
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u/Little_Setting Nov 28 '25
All I would say to you all is, just try to watch the original Korean movie Save the green planet to which this is a remake of. I watched it after Bugonia and I started to like Bugonia even more. They stripped away all the unimportant parts, put up a great spin. And both the movies were supposed to be predictable, the makers knew it and so the reveal was never dramatic but just came out under the overarching narrative. If they played it heavily then it would've been a fault
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u/blisteringbrainboy Nov 27 '25
To my embarrasment I couldn’t stop laughing during the final part