Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Bugonia

This is one of the best films of the year and is right next to Poor Things to being my nee favourite second Yorgos Lanthimos film! Now I have been very vocal of how I am a huge fan of Yorgo’s films over the years and how he has such a distinct and specific style that is so uniquely him. This film is about paranoia, damaged hearts and what happens when conspiracy theory goes to total madness Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone deliver dominating performances that are among some of the best work of their career Bugonia is strange, a twisty and turny tale of sheer insanity to the 100th degree Yorgos may have just delivered the best work of his career with his execution of this narrative. 

Firstly, As I mentioned it is no surprise I sing the praises of Yorgo’s work as I have been praising his talents since I saw the Lobster in 2015. He has given some of the most striking films with truly mind boggling stories that spark such great discussions among the film community and I love that. He always infuses his own spin on very deep rooted themes and here he gives what may be his most political take on things we have seen so far and I love the ballsy moves he is doing with this film in particular. As this film delves into the places of conspiracy theory and how maddening it can be and how there are some people that are so deep into that mindset that whatever they read off the internet they will believe with their full being to a terrifying extent. He shows what happens if someone who believes in that toxic way of thinking could go a step further to dangerous degrees and I love the exploration of it. As the film toys with the idea and concept of this woman they think is an alien and their so sure of it their is no turning their brains but what the film also shows is the paranoia of it all because the film plays devils advocate in a way where they think their an alien and Emma Stone is constantly trying to tell these two men she isn’t but what Yorgos captures so well is self doubt with the audience because he makes you start to not know who to trust because is Emma Stone being totally truthful or are they guys purely insane and made a huge mistake abducting this powerful woman. It goes back and forth arguing both sides and the film weaves through so many twist and turns that you don’t see coming it kept me on edge the entire time their was not one moment I was bored or felt disengaged from the story. Yorgos and the whole team have crafted a film that I think is one of his finest films that again is able to have serious discussions while showing it in the obscure way he likes to do and some may shrug this film off and say it is too weird and obscure but I disagree because if you have seen any of his other films you know that is how he goes about telling his stories. This film though do I think is better than kinds of Kindness? yes but that isn’t a knock on the quality of that film I just felt this film is more tightly written with a engaging plot line that grabs hold of you. He once again brings that pitch black humour to the frame he is known for the film is the exploration of madness and conspiracy to the the most wild degree and Yorgos captured it magnificently the tone set for the film was great and the way it was written is truly terrific. 

Secondly, The performances from everyone but I will say now the biggest performance of the film that really chews up the scenery is Jesse Plemons who gives I think his finest performance in this! He plays this man obsessed with the notion that their are aliens walking among us through the bodies of rich millionaires or wealthy people and he is driven by the notion of trying to stop them and he feels so sure of it that nothing can shake him and he brings a awkwardness and unpredictability to the role that is utterly terrifying but you can’t look away from it is his finest hour as an actor and shows everyone he is a perfect fit for leading man roles. Emma Stone is equally as great giving what I think is her second best performance right next to Poor Things as she plays a woman that is thrust into this situation where she has to find ways to better her situation without making it worse for herself as she knows it can end vert badly if she says the wrong thing and the way she shows the pure desperation in her eyes while also trying to remain strong in spirit is truly incredible to watch onscreen. The two performances from Jesse and Emma are phenomenal and seeing them going back and forth is a great chess match of acting to watch that left me floored. 

Lastly, Bugonia is one of Yorgos’s strongest films of his entire career with his ability to keep finding ways to bring the audience into his strange worlds and approaching them in fresh new ways that never feel repetitive as he crafts his most political spin through his obscure lens with his work on this. He never made the film feel preachy but worked it into the story that felt smart and packed a powerful punch that will make you think. the film shows what happens to someone who gets in their own head with paranoia and acts on it and goes about it in all the wrong ways to the most insane degree and the way he explores the mindset of these characters is incredible while packed with truly spectacular performances Bugonia is one of the most thought provoking and well acted films of the year that will for sure be on a lot of peoples favourite films of the year list I know it’ll be on mine for sure Bugonia is chaotic madness presented masterfully by Yorgos. I recommend if your a fan of his work or just great original storytelling go see this on the big screen. 

Two men abduct a powerful business woman under the impression she is an alien 

Rated R : Bloody Violent Content|Suicide|Grisly Images|Language

Jesse Plemons : Plemons delivers his finest work of his career with his turn in this film! Now as I said last year seeing him getting his first big lead role with Kinds Of Kindness was a big deal as he has for a long time has been playing supporting roles and he proved with his work in that he can anchor a film as the lead and here he shines amazingly as the lead of this film once again giving full confidence he is leading man material. Here he plays a man dead set on the notion that there is a woman that he has been following for a while is an alien that must be stopped. The film opens with lots of dialogue of why he thinks the way he does and we get a crack inside his brain of how he ticks and it is disturbing because their are so many people that do think the way he is speaking and their is so much reality in his performance. You can tell that what he has read on the internet has infected his way of thinking and going about his way of living we see that he is so confident in those topics because of his heavy research on it and by believing it heavily gives him a purpose as you can see in his eyes he is a lost soul that has a heavy amount of trauma and disguises it through his maddening obsession on this topic. When he abducts Emma Stone’s character at first we think he just grabbed her because he thinks she is an alien and has studied her for so long but as the film goes on we learn that they have a shared history between the two of them and the reasoning he targeted her could of been due to being emotionally motivated instead of it at first feeling like a isolated event. Jesse has perfected the ability to play these socially awkward characters that feel so uncomfortable in their skin but here he plays someone that has so many insecurities and at the core of it feels he has a handle on the situation when in reality he has no idea what he is doing and when Emma’s character calls him out on his lack of planning and sloppy execution he gets mad very easily as you can see he has a short temper that can’t take criticism. He thinks he has the upper hand in what is happening but since he is so off the deep end mentally what makes him scary is he will resort to psychical violence if it means it proves to her that he is in control and not her which is scary as it shows that he has no limit to what he can and will do to protect his pride. You can see in the way he looks that he feels so confident in the beginning but as the film goes on you can watch the layers of insecurity just shed off him like a snake and his patience and calm way of dealing with it become less and less and he starts cracking under the pressure leading to violent outbursts that make the situation only worse for himself furthering proving the point that he has no idea how to deal with what he chose to do. This character is so multi layered in insecurity and to a degree insanity as well and he didn’t just play him as this big terrifying antagonist but you can see that he took the approach of people that have been mentally unstable and clutch themselves to unhealthy things on the internet and then blow that up to a crazy degree and what would happen if someone acted on those ill thoughts and believed all these outlandish things and spoke it as if it was their truth. Jesse has this slow but gradual progression into mental madness and he cranks up the volume on it slowly but surely in a way that works for the film and is so incredibly emotionally affective in his screen delivery. I think the way he plays the character is brilliant and is his finest hour as An actor as he has so much to work with in terms of showing sides of who this person is and you can see the sheer amount of depth exploration that Plemons puts into the role is truly amazing. Jesse Plemons delivers a phenomenal performance of a man that starts as a guy that could not be rattled but then becomes sick with paranoia in his brain and the way Jesse shows that onscreen truly blew me away from his line delivery to the emotional vulnerability he presents from just the look in his eyes he is amazing here I really hope he gets award attention for his work in this film he is outstanding! 

Emma Stone : Stone gives another sensational turn with her partnership with Yorgos! These two have become such great collaborators and they creatively bring the best out of each other as once again Emma shines as this rich mogul that is thrust into a dangerous situation that she has to find a way out of without getting killed. Now I want to add Emma Stone has become one of my favourite actors working today she constantly finds characters that challenge her as an actress that raises the bar of what she can do each time which makes her so fun to watch their is really not any genre she can’t do. Here as mentioned she plays this rich mogul and when she is awakened in the basement to these two men that are under the impression she is an alien her first response is to get angry and try to tell them that their horribly mistaken and that the law enforcement will be knocking their door down any minute as she finds if she approaches it by instilling fear then that will get them to crack under the pressure of using her power status to intimate them. When she comes to the hard realization early on that tactic won’t work to her surprise as she thought it would scare them and when they are found to just laugh her off and go upstairs showing they are the ones in control she then goes to her second option which is desperation and she goes through many levels of emotional stages as the second one yeah was desperation as she begins to plea and beg to let her go and regardless how many tears she sheds or how she tries to reason with them she finds herself still cuffed to that bed and unable to go anywhere which then leads to her third attempt which is to play along and feed into their delusions when she starts cooperating and just begin agreeing that she is an alien they are at first not convinced and takes a lot for her to make them agree that she isn’t manipulating them but is she? She knows that these men are mentally not well and so why fight them when she can just try to agree for a while to talk her way out of it. She tries to be kind she really does but their is a moment where she gets into a heated disagreement with Jesse’s character over some past business they had with one another and it results in his hands being around her throat and after that moment she realizes this man’s violent outbursts has caused her to have to get out of there asap as she knows he will end her if it comes to it as at first she just he may never lay a hand on her but when that is proven false she then does her final attempt to find a way out which is shedding the begging and pleading and kindness persona and showing him that she is strong at heart and has never been weak and she has this monologue that feels 5 to 7 minutes long and it left my jaw on the floor as like I said when we first see her she is desperate but by the final act she makes Jesse full of self doubt and second guessing his moves as she proves to him he messed with the wrong person. What is so brilliant about Emma in this film is the many phases she goes through and how she is able to deliver such a powerful punch of emotion in each layer that is peeled back she brings such a amount of emotional grit to the role and again she gets so much to work with in terms of emotional range with this character. Emma is phenomenal and you can tell that upon the first night in that basement that she is someone that has the confidence Jesse’s character wishes he had and you can see the seeds of resentment grow from that first encounter. Emma Stone gives an emotional stability to Jesses’s madness which makes for a great acting showcase between the two onscreen the entire time. Emma Stone once again gives another terrific turn in this film that is among her best work she has ever done she is emotionally powerful in this film! 

Yorgos Lanthimos : Yorgos gives again another modern masterpiece with his work on this! Yorgos I will never stop gushing about his creative brain as he is one of the most imaginative creatives working today that finds such engaging stories that never feels like his previous films he is always giving fresh new takes with such unique looks on the human condition. Now again this could be his most polarizing film yet with the political take he has on it and some may say it is too heavy handed I don’t think so as I have not seen such a true and honest look at conspiracy theory to a psychotic degree shown like this before. He does not his punches he shows how mentally unstable, scary, and dangerous it can be when you let falsehoods from the internet become your version of the truth and then at the same time is Emma’s character being totally truthful we don’t know which then makes us what agree with Jesse’s character not exactly but it creates self doubt in both characters which makes for a more unpredictable ending. You have no idea how the film is going to shake out and I think Yorgos did a tremendous job at not letting people know where the plot was going to go keeping the audience on their toes the whole time. he does not spoon feed the audience and tell them who is right and who is wrong he is amazing at showing flawed characters and their actions but leaving it up to the viewer to decide if what their doing is wrong or not and the only other filmmaker that has perfected that is Scorsese. Yorgos explores paranoia, madness and what happens if someone was pushed too far to act on their own suspensions from what they read online and the way he delivers that is amazing and so well done as he also gets great performances from his lead actors while giving that signature Yorgos black comedy as well where you don’t if you should laugh at parts of the film but find yourself giggling. Yorgos once again proves why he is one of the most compelling voices working today and he has yet to find a genre he cannot tackle he loves exploring what makes people tick and here Bugonia is one of his finest films he just did a truly remarkable job.