Bugonia – 1.5 stars

Like all Yorgos Lanthimos films, Bugonia is adept, entirely thought out, and at times, mesmerizing. Slowly but surely, the viewer is drawn into Lanthimos’ vibe as he tells the story of a mentally ill conspiracy theorist (Jesse Plemons) convinced that the CEO of a corporate behemoth (Emma Stone) is, in fact, an alien sent from her planet Andromeda to kill us all, starting with bees. So, with his hapless, dim cousin (Aiden Delbis), he kidnaps her, whereafter, it all goes awry.

Unfortunately, Lanthimos is back in his sweet spot, rank sadism.  Poor Things is the only Lanthimos movie I like, because in re-making the Frankenstein story with an innocent (Stone, again), he allowed for joy and humor as she explored her boundless lust and curiosity whilst it clashed with societal convention.

Now, like The Lobster and The Favourite, Lanthimos is artfully back to picking wings from flies. His mean-spirited abuse of his characters (in particular, Delbis, an Of Mice and Men Lenny) is capped off with a grandiose coda that expresses just how much he really does hate humans.

Lanthimos may possess a conceit that he is delivering something of import – be it a commentary on environmental cataclysm, the perils of the internet, or corporate soullessness – but really, he’s just a nasty brute with a good eye.

If it weren’t for the game efforts of Plemons and Stone, who can be captivating in their cat-and-mouse exchanges, this would have been a zero.

On Netflix.