Critic's Notebook

Focus Features

Yorgos Lanthimos is at his most accessible when directing someone else’s script. Such is the case with his Venice International Film Festival entry, the Jang Joon-hwan-written, Will Tracy-adapted “Bugonia.” Fortunately, there is just enough peculiarity, violence and blood that it’s unmistakable as being of his oeuvre.

“Bugonia” is an allegory of our time. Cousins Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis) are the heroes, whose hijinks are accompanied by musical cues from a John Williams-esque full orchestral hero theme courtesy of Jerskin Fendrix. Their conversations are steeped in scientific jargon as if they live inside a sci-fi flick. But in reality, Teddy comes off as an irrational conspiracy theorist, like so many podcast-brainwashed MAGAts. They self-administer sterilization – or “chemical castration” per Teddy – to ensure maximum focus. Yet the film is sympathetic to them.

They have been training hard toward abducting Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone, also one of the film’s eight producers), chief executive of pharmaceutical company Auxolith, who Teddy believes is an Andromedan dispatched to Earth to annihilate humanity. While recording a D.E.I. training video, she complains about the many mentions of diversity in the script. She mandates that all employees clock out at 5:30 p.m. — unless of course they want to stay and finish their work. She’s clearly coded as the villain. We’ve all had to deal with this fire-breathing type at the workplace. She’s even got a resting bitchface. It goes without saying that corporations are inherently evil.

Like the comically inept small-time criminals in Coen brothers’ movies, Teddy and Don attack Michelle haphazardly and messily. After she manages to fight them off and escape a few times, Teddy finally injects her with a sedative. Props to Ms. Stone, who had to act unconscious while Mr. Delbis shaved her head.

James Price’s production designs – the sterile corporate headquarters, Michelle’s modern mansion, Teddy and Don’s dated family home and the strangely Tim Burton-like scenery during the resolution – have done the heavy lifting. Ms. Stone deserves praise for her willingness to spend the bulk of the runtime with her head shaved and face covered in cream. Mr. Plemons finally gets a chance to shine in the lead.

The film challenges the superhero genre narrative that is so deeply ingrained in us and the latent sexist feelings toward successful woman go-getters, all while reenforcing and reaffirming these tropes. It remains ambiguous for the most part about Teddy’s sanity and Michelle’s malevolence as he interrogates her in the basement of a dated house in Fayette County, Georgia, before it arrives at a predictable ending.

“Bugonia” is a biting satire about the current state of affairs. Its power struggles between the rich and poor recall “Parasite,” and perhaps Mr. Jang’s Korean sensibility informs that. This genre is right in Mr. Lanthimos’s wheelhouse, but it’s the most topical of his work so far. It’s not as straightforward as the thematically similar “Eddington,” which may be less entertaining but at least gets its points across.