Bugonia: Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s sci-fi black comedy has received a digital release
Director Yorgos Lanthimos reteamed with his The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness star Emma Stone for Bugonia, a remake of the South Korean film Save the Green Planet that’s received a theatrical release at the end of October and racked up just under $33 million at the global box office… which is about as much as could be expected. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray gave the film a 5/10 review and said it was sure to be divisive – but divisive is pretty much Lanthimos’ whole career. If you missed seeing this one on the big screen but would like to give it a chance at home, you’ll be glad to hear that Bugonia has now received a digital release. It’s available for purchase on Amazon for the price of $24.99 or you can rent it for $19.99.
Described as an eccentric black comedy, the original Save the Green Planet followed a disillusioned young man who captures and tortures a businessman whom he believes to be part of an alien invasion. A battle of wits ensues between the captor, his devoted girlfriend, the businessman and a private detective. Here’s a longer synopsis: Joon-hwan Jang imagines the fate of the human race hinging on Byun-gu, a bitter, paranoid and eccentric beekeeper who, with the help of his tightrope walker girlfriend, Sooni, kidnaps a powerful and successful businessman, Man-sik. Byun-gu believes that Man-sik is an alien from the planet Andromeda, one of many hiding among us and plotting to destroy the Earth in a few days. Amphetamine-popping Byun-gu sees himself as the planet’s last hope, and sets about torturing Man-sik with relish, trying to convince him to contact the “Royal Prince” and call off Armageddon. A battle of wits and wills ensues, with Man-sik trying to convince his captors that he’s human and attempting to escape. Man-sik recognizes Byun-gu as a disgruntled former employee whose comatose mother suffers from a mysterious illness. It begins to seem that Byun-gu’s true motivation may be personal, but he’s still ruthlessly determined to get Man-sik to confess and cooperate, even if he has to risk killing him. Meanwhile, a dishevelled detective, Chu, and his young acolyte, Inspector Kim, discover that the person who kidnapped Man-sik may have struck several times before, always with deadly results.
Bugonia has this for a synopsis: Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. Stone is joined in the cast by Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone.
The original film, Save the Green Planet, was directed by Joon-hwan Jang, and when the remake was first announced over four years ago, it was said that Jang would be at the helm of the new take on the concept as well. But he ended up passing the helm over to Lanthimos. The Bugonia screenplay was written by Will Tracy, a writer on HBO’s Succession and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver who also co-wrote the genre film The Menu. Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe produced Bugonia for Element Pictures, alongside Miky Lee and Jerry Ko for CJ ENM, Stone for Fruit Tree, Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen for Square Peg, and Lanthimos.
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