By Sophie Albertie
The future of mankind is in the hands of one simple man, who has just discovered an alien. Not just any alien, the supreme leader of all extraterrestrial life.
In Yorgos Lanthimos 2025 U.S. adaptation of the 2003 Korean sci fi thriller “Save the Green Planet,” retitled “Bugonia,” Actor Jesse Plemons plays a bumbling conspiracy theorist who has just gotten his hands on a high tech girlboss CEO. The CEO is played by Emma Stone, and the theorist has convinced himself that this fast talking business woman has an alien agenda and is gunning for supreme rule of the human race.
The question this film asks is one of the more simple ones, resting on the surface of outrageous philosophy usually asked in Lanthimos films; real or fake?
Is this simple man pining aimlessly towards the execution of a completely innocent human being, or is he onto something greater? What does he know that the audience doesn’t?
This movie is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. If you have a complicated relationship with your mom or grief, this may surprisingly bring out some repressed feelings.
One of the more surreal watches, an extremely stylized remake of an entirely different movie. This is what Lathimos does best in his movies, always adding the undertone of his own bizarre imagination that makes even a recreation feel totally unique.
Emma Stone shaved her head in one take for this movie, which definitely helps to put the ‘thrill’ in thriller. Not my favorite watch of 2025, but definitely the most memorable. Four out of five stars.
Viewers will be on the edge of their seats for the duration of the two hour runtime. Nothing is as it seems but every uncomfortable moment appears to be adding up, accumulating one grand finale. It’s up to you to decide if the world ends with a bang or a whimper.
