Movie Review

Bugonia pits Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons in a battle of wits and will

Emma Stone in Bugonia.

Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features

Few other current directors can evoke strong reactions like Yorgos Lanthimos. Since the Greek filmmaker got his first big exposure with The Lobster in 2015, his films have become the epitome of the love it/hate it dichotomy, with some films lavished with Oscar nominations and others ending up on the worst movies of the year lists. So there’s no doubt that his latest, Bugonia, will divide audiences as well.

On the surface, the film is Lanthimos’ most accessible one yet. Teddy (Jesse Plemons) is your classic conspiracy theorist, blaming his and the world’s woes on corporations and the aliens he believes run them. At the top of his revenge list is Michelle (Emma Stone), who leads a diversified company that includes the Amazon-esque warehouse where Teddy works.

Teddy convinces his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) that the only way to get the world right again is to kidnap Michelle and convince her to take them to her leader. But what Teddy doesn’t anticipate is the response he will get from Michelle. Instead of reacting in fear after waking up in Teddy’s basement with her head shaved, she uses her assertive nature to try to take control of the situation.

The film is written by Will Tracy, whose recent projects such as The Menu and the HBO series Succession both took aim at the ultra-rich. He does so again here, as Teddy and Don’s modest home in the country, where they keep bees as a side gig, is juxtaposed with the lavish lifestyle of Michelle, who thinks offering her workers the “option” of leaving for the day at 5:30 pm is a big perk.

When the film is focused on this part of the story is when it’s at its most successful. Teddy and Michelle have multiple confrontations while she’s chained up, with Teddy trying to break her by any means necessary, and Michelle pushing back with the only thing she has at her disposal: Her words. The film is alternately brutal and funny as each uses their form of power to try to manipulate the other.

Other elements are, as expected, head-scratching. Lanthimos includes brief black-and-white segments showing Teddy’s mom Sandy (Alicia Silverstone) fighting an unexplained illness, one which inexplicably has her floating in mid-air. Don — and the actor playing him — is autistic, a fact that the filmmakers don’t necessarily have to explain save for the slightly icky feeling it brings up about both the character and actor being exploited.

Stone, working with Lanthimos for the fourth time, turns in a fierce and compelling performance. Her character can be a bit clueless as to how her actions affect others, and Stone rides the line between heartlessness and forced niceness well. Plemons goes against type as a man with possible mental health issues, but he maintains the same level of intensity he’s brought to other recent roles. Novice actor Delbis makes for an interesting presence even as he’s not asked to do more than react to the weird ideas of Plemons’ character.

Bugonia doesn’t have the consistent WTF-ness of Lanthimos’ most outlandish projects, something that has made his most acclaimed films so memorable. But it also contains a fair amount of intrigue and two great actors going head-to-head for much of its running time, so it’ll more than likely end up on the positive side of the ledger for most viewers.

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Bugonia opens in theaters on October 31.

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Movie Review

Dakota Fanning-led The Sun Never Sets needs more direction

Photo courtesy of Independent Film Company

Dakota Fanning in The Sun Never Sets.

The movies of writer/director Joe Swanberg have always been an acquired taste, as he prefers to give his actors a loose framework of a story and let them improvise most of their lines to give the films a more natural feel. Sometimes that approach can yield great results, and sometimes — as in The Sun Never Sets — it can result in addled and maddening storytelling.

Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is in her early 30s and at a crossroads in her life. When a friend announces she’s pregnant, she starts to re-evaluate what she wants, including her two-year relationship with the older Jack (Jake Johnson). Although they love each other, their disagreements on having more children and extracurricular activities call their long-term viability into question.

Jack, not wanting Wendy to settle, encourages her to explore her options where they live — Anchorage, Alaska — telling her he’ll be waiting should she strike out. What he doesn’t expect is that Wendy’s ex-boyfriend, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), has returned to the city, giving her an attractive alternative. The three engage in a love triangle that proves frustrating and confusing for both the participants and the viewers.

What works best about the film is its location in Alaska, which rarely gets showcased in movies, and even more rarely in the way it is here. The story takes place in warmer months, and Swanberg gives his characters multiple opportunities to be outside, showing off Anchorage’s harbor, surrounding mountains, and seemingly vibrant city life. The subtle but effective way Swanberg frames various scenes makes the landscape enormously appealing.

It’s too bad, then, that the story never measures up to its surroundings. Too often Fanning, Johnson, Smith, and others seem to be grasping for their next line, unsure of what they want their character to do or say next. That lets their scenes mimic real conversations, but you might not realize how much you want scripted dialogue until you see actors trying to come up with their own in the moment.

The larger issue is that there’s no consistency from scene to scene about where the plot is heading. The characters of Wendy, Jack, and Chuck are extremely wishy-washy about their desires, with each of them vacillating back-and-forth in just how much they want to be with each other. Depending on your experience, this may or may not be true to life, but watching it is excruciating and not enjoyable or romantic in the slightest.

As actors, Fanning, Johnson, and Smith are talented and interesting, with each capable of connecting with viewers in different ways. But working in improvisation is a different beast, and only Johnson — who has worked with Swanberg multiple times — seems truly at home. A few others, like Debby Ryan and Anna Konkle, do well in the format and maybe deserved bigger parts.

Swanberg has proven in the past that his method of filmmaking can be insightful and entertaining, but that is not the case here. In The Sun Never Sets, his hands-off approach is a detriment to the flow of the film and the story as a whole, resulting in an experience that is far from what most viewers will want to go through.

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The Sun Never Sets is now playing in select theaters.

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