Yorgo Lanthimos is like Tim Burton for misanthropes. Every criticism you could level at Burton's overtly kooky aesthetic over substance works just the same for Lanthimos, who by now is so enamored by Emma Stone's endless ability to get freaky that nothing else seems to matter.
Bugonia is a remake of the criminally underseen South Korean black comedy Save the Green Planet, and it does nothing to elevate or differentiate itself from the original. Originally released in 2003, Save the Green Planet was already a bleak and often mean film about a delusional man believing himself the savior of a world gone wrong. Lanthimos amps up the cruelty to a point where any possibility for the joke to work goes right out the window.
Jesse Plemons plays the deluded anti-hero who kidnaps Stone's cold and calculating pharma CEO. They're both fantastic in their parts, which isn't a surprise, as they're two of the most talented actors of their generation. Even when they're in a bad film, they find something interesting to do with the material. Just look at Kinds of Kindness from last year.
As with his previous efforts, Lanthimos can't help but fall for his worst instincts. Whatever Save the Green Planet did, Bugonia takes a step further. In the original, Hwang Jeong-min plays the anti-hero's friend as a naive circus performer with a life of their own. In Bugonia, Lanthimos reduces the part to an unspoken and esoteric case of "neurodivergency", which manifests as infantile and helpless. The part is played by Aidan Delbis, an actor on the autism spectrum, yet the film treats the character and neurodivergency as a sideshow.
In fairness, this is how Lanthimos treats everything. He is a voyeur who is fascinated by otherness, yet unable or unwilling to understand it. Burton may fetishize and commercialize the outsider, but he's always empathetic about it. That might not be any better than what Lanthimos does, but it is more palatable than watching yet another film that mercilessly mocks those already at the bottom.
Compare it to someone like Todd Solonz, who made his career out of equally bleak and uncomfortable material. At their worst, they dealt with themes of unspeakable darkness, yet they felt human because Solonz never treated his characters with the same disdain that Lanthimos does. In Bugonia, when a character reveals their past abuse of another, Lanthimos frames it as a gag. Like the situation itself is funny because something worse is happening right around the corner.
When it all comes to a finish, Lanthimos closes with a collective shrug that undermines the entire film. It is the same conclusion as in the original, yet because the emphasis is elsewhere, the tonal shift changes how it comes across. What once was bleak but poignant now feels callous and disinterested.
The Coen brothers have made a career of telling shaggy dog stories that amount to very little. Even Burton admits his films barely have plots. Yet they're inherently empathetic stories of people you can understand even if you don't like them. I don't think Lanthimos likes any of his characters. They exist for his torment, which makes for some dull viewing.
