Audiences are able to once again dive into the weird world of Yorgos Lanthimos in his new film “Bugonia,” starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis. 

“Bugonia” follows Teddy (Plemons), an eccentric beekeeper who recruits his cousin Don (Delbis) in his conspiratorial crusade to liberate humanity from the supposed alien threat known as Andromedans. 

Teddy and Don kidnap billionaire CEO Michelle Fuller (Stone) as a way to seek counsel with the Andromedan emperor and “save” the human race. 

“Bugonia” is a remake of the 2003 South Korean film “Save the Green Earth,” which follows a similar story of a man kidnapping someone he suspects to be an alien. 

The film feels as culturally relevant as ever. 

In a world filled with shady billionaire technocrats and internet rabbit holes, Teddy and Michelle feel like subjects of a documentary rather than a fictional film. 

The billionaires that fill our news might as well be aliens to the average person – with their jargon-filled speeches and luxury-filled lifestyles. 

“Bugonia” takes the nuanced subject of human existence and executes it expertly, with a misanthropic yet wholesome twist. 

Emma Stone delivers another knockout performance in the film. Her corporate speak and piercing wide-eyed demeanor light up every shot. 

Her performance just might be all-timer for the award-winning actress, as she essentially becomes Michelle Fuller – shaved head and all. 

While Stone’s performance is in the running for her best, Jesse Plemons undoubtedly delivers the peak performance of his career so far. 

Plemons is captivating in the role of Teddy, so much so that it leaves the viewer wondering if Plemons is even playing a character at all. 

Every line is delivered in a deliberate way – with a palpable sense of delusion hanging on every word. 

Plemons’ physical performance is also magnificent, with his shifting eyes and shaking jaw seeming natural instead of performative. 

Aidan Delbis is given a smaller role as Don, but he takes advantage of his lines with careful deliveries that make him both comedic and sympathetic. 

Comedian Stavros Halkias gives a wonderfully awkward performance as Casey, a local police officer and former babysitter of Teddy. 

Lanthimos’ directing is another strong element of the film. 

The director balances incredibly claustrophobic shots with wide shots, managing to create tension in one scene and comedic relief in the next. 

Though, Lanthimos uses the mix of close-ups and wide shots best in the film’s final sequence – a darkly comedic yet undeniably tranquil ending. 

The film’s score is also a standout. 

The original score is bombastic. It features blaring brass and stinging strings, creating a sense of urgency and paranoia that the film runs on. 

The film also uses Chappelle Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” incredibly well in one of the opening scenes. A surprising, yet masterful use of Green Day’s “Basket Case” also leads to one of the film’s highlight comedic moments. 

“Bugonia” is certainly more subdued than other Lanthimos works like “Poor Things.”

Themes of environmentalism, corporatization and conspiracy are littered throughout the film, but none are delved into in explicit detail – instead going for a subtle, more interpretive approach. 

The film is also deeply misanthropic, but never in a way that feels in bad taste. 

While some may criticize the film by calling it  grim or mean-spirited, it should instead be viewed as what it is – a dark comedy. 

Lanthimos is perhaps most heavy-handed in his critiques of the human race as a whole. 

Mainly, our propensity to pollute the environment and murder each other. 

Bees are used as both a literal point of contention and symbolic representation throughout the film. 

While their work ethic is respected, their biological focus on hierarchy and labor is compared to the master and servant-like attitude present in capitalism. 

“Bugonia” is a dour film. The themes presented and the ideas entertained are not crowd-pleasing nor easily digestible. 

They force viewers not only to question the systems humans live within, but whether humans should even exist at all.

But Lanthimos is still willing to throw the viewer a bone throughout, delivering a fruitful bounty of comedic moments which makes cosmic dread go down as easy as a spoonful of honey.