Bugonia (2025, R)

This is a wild movie. Which, given that it’s coming from Yorgos Lanthimos, is hardly surprising. I had mixed feelings about this one (also not surprising, honestly)—for the most part, it’s brutal but very good, but I feel like the ending kind of goes off the rails.

Teddy is many things: an amateur beekeeper, a warehouse worker for a giant pharmaceutical corporation, and a conspiracy theorist. He’s gone far down a rabbit hole researching the Andromedans, an alien race bent on destroying humanity. He’s convinced that the Andromedans have embedded themselves into society by posing as humans, and now, he’s put his cousin Don through a training regimen so they can kidnap one such Andromedan. As it happens, she’s the CEO of his company: Michelle Fuller. Teddy interrogates Michelle in the hopes of 1) getting her to admit her alien nature and 2) arranging a meeting on her mother ship, so he can negotiate the survival of the human race.

Bugonia is up for four Oscars. Besides Best Picture, it’s nominated for Best Leading Actress for Emma Stone, Best Adapted Screenplay (it’s based on a 2003 South Korean film called Save the Green Planet!), and Best Score. Again, I have issues with the ending, but other than that, the script is pretty great, the score does a lot to create atmosphere, and Stone is terrific!

Obviously, good swathes of this story are ridiculous. Michelle gives both Teddy and Don a pretty good beating when they come for her. Once they’ve taken her, Teddy slathers Michelle in antihistamine cream to “dampen her powers,” and he’s chemically castrated himself to prevent her from seducing him. There’s also some nice corporate satire, like Michelle singing the praises of the company’s new “you can totally go home at 5:30!” policy while emphasizing that employees can stay late if they choose and they should still definitely get all their work done before they leave.

But at the same time, there are genuinely disturbing elements here, as well as some painful ones. Teddy doesn’t just chemically castrate himself—he convinces Don, who is autistic and relies on Teddy for some support needs, to do the same. While Teddy’s taken a nosedive into wild conspiracies, he’s also experienced some horrific injustices in his life and hasn’t really dealt with grief/anger from that. And yes, it’s goofy that Teddy thinks Michelle is an alien, but he does violently kidnap a woman, hold her in his basement, and torture her for information. The film is funny and unsettling in almost equal measure.

The final stretch of the film, though, doesn’t really work for me. To be fair, since it’s an adaptation, I’m guessing the ending was already baked in. But I don’t like it. It feels like it undermines everything the film was trying to say and leaves me somewhat cold in the last sequence. It’s disappointing, because up until that point, I thought it was pretty excellent, albeit hard to watch at points.

Stone is fantastic in her nominated performance as Michelle. Regardless of whether she’s an alien, she is an objectively terrible person, but that doesn’t warrant Teddy’s actions toward her. It all adds to the complexity of the film, and it’s really interesting to watch Michelle navigate this situation, trying to manipulate the guys and get away. Jesse Plemons does a really great job as Teddy. He’s comically unhinged, intensely focused, and deeply hurting—Plemons balances the different parts of the character, making them all work in a sort of unbalanced harmony. And Aidan Delbis is quite good in his film debut as Don. Delbis is autistic himself, and Don is an active participant in the story with his own point-of-view—you love to see it.

Warnings

Strong violence (including torture,) strong thematic elements (including suicide,) language, drinking/drug references, and sexual references.

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Rocky (Yesterday)

*Rocky-related spoilers.*

When the actor playing Frenchie looked familiar to me after season 1 of Our Flag Means Death, I looked him up and realized that I recognized Joel Fry from this movie, where he played the main character’s quirky buddy. Back in 2019, I’d been really excited for Yesterday, but unfortunately, the movie didn’t fully pan out for me. In my review at the time, I praised Himesh Patel’s strong performance but disliked the super clunky romantic storyline and lamented that the cool premise wasn’t executed very well.

Watching it again for Joel Fry-days, my overall impressions of the movie are much the same. Himesh Patel’s acting and singing are both terrific, I like Jack’s imperfect recall of the Beatles’ catalog—a la his ongoing struggle to remember the lyrics to “Eleanor Rigby”—and it cracks me up that Ed Sheeran’s ringtone is “Shape of You.” But the story is still a letdown, and I get aggravated that Richard Curtis’s singular plot device for the film is “character gets repeatedly interrupted by meaningless stuff when they’re trying to share something important.” Seriously, it happens even more often than I’d recalled!

Since I’ve already reviewed Yesterday, I wanted to write something different for today’s post, so it’s time for another Neurodivergent Alley! Before we get into it, here’s my Joel Fry-days addendum to my original review:

Accent Watch

Southern British English, maybe a bit London.

Recommend?

In General – A soft maybe. The parts I like, I like a lot, but there’s a lot of fat surrounding it.

Joel Fry – It’s another yes from me. Look, it’s still relatively early days for Joel Fry-days, so I might just be in the “I love everything!” phase. But I really, really like Fry’s performance as Rocky, which is goofy and fun with moments of unexpected sweetness.

To me, Rocky reads as maybe AuDHD. He’s viewed by others as a terminally unemployable screwup that you can’t depend on. Sadly, even Rocky’s friends see him this way. When Jack runs into him working at a musical festival, Jack remarks, “So everyone who said you were a lazy, useless, drug-taking drunk who’d never get a job were wrong.” Rocky affirms that they were wrong about him, except he’s fired later that day and winds up couch surfing with another friend of theirs. When Jack hears about this, he commiserates with the friend, calling it “a disaster” and warning that it “could last forever.”

To be fair, Rocky struggles with executive function stuff, and he makes easy mistakes when he’s distracted, dropping the ball on important things. He’s also blunt in ways that most people don’t appreciate, and he doesn’t care much about social hierarchies. When Jack gets the chance to open for Ed Sheeran—bringing Rocky as his roadie, as a last resort—Rocky has no problem telling the pop star to his face that it “sounds a bit crap” when he tries to rap. It’s not the only moment where, in Jack’s view, Rocky says something embarrassing or inappropriate in front of someone important.

A key part of Rocky’s bluntness, though, is that he’s not great with social cues. After accompanying Jack on his frantic race to the train station in Liverpool to meet Ellie, Rocky sits down beside them as they prepare to have a serious talk about their relationship. Jack has to tell him, “Rocky, this is completely not a conversation you’re part of.” And later on, when Ellie tells Jack she’s started seeing someone, Rocky can’t figure out why Jack never dated her. Which leads us to this exchange:

ROCKY: “If I had been you, twice a day, I would have loved her up like a lusty lion.” 

JACK: “Rocky, if I ask you to just shut up—really, really, really shut up—would that be okay?” 

ROCKY: “...Right. Can I just start again and say, isn’t it wonderful news? And I hope they’ll be very happy together and have gorgeous kids! Is that better?” 

JACK: “No, it’s worse.” 

ROCKY: “I have got a third option, but—”

And that’s the point where Jack cuts him off. Lots of comedies have the inappropriate friend who says horny things or inadvertently makes the hero feel like crap when they’re down. But I don’t often see this dynamic, where it’s clear that the friend realizes they said the wrong thing and tries to course-correct, only they’re not sure how. Rocky asking permission to start again, wondering “is that better?” once he does, and then offering to try a third time? All of that screams, Oh wait, social interaction fumbled—how do I fix this?

Similarly, when the distracted mistakes happen and Rocky screws things up, he’s not just the happy-go-lucky guy who brushes everything off. When he gets fired near the start of the film, he says, “Fair dues,” admitting his fault in it, then sheepishly shakes his head at Jack as he has to admit he’s just lost another job. He does try, and he wants to do well, and it bothers him when he doesn’t. That’s another thing that a lot of movies wouldn’t do with the funny wildcard friend who causes comedic mishaps and makes the hero’s life more difficult. Generally, you’re not “supposed to” empathize with this guy when his own best friend thinks he’s not good for anything, but I do.

For me, a lot of that comes down to how Joel Fry plays Rocky. He brings out the earnestness amid the goofiness and the chaos, making Rocky feel more like a genuine person instead of a caricature. I feel it in those moments where Rocky realizes he’s miscalibrated a social cue, or where he shows that he’s not immune to the perception of him as a hopeless screwup.  Best of all, Fry does this while still filling the “goofy chaotic friend” role to a tee—he has some great line deliveries and reaction shots, and I love a moment where it’s revealed that Rocky slept on the couch in his own hotel room, with his jacket, shoes, and sunglasses still on. Hee! 

Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Anthony Bridgerton (Bridgerton)

*Anthony-related spoilers*

Back when Bridgerton first came out, I liked the idea of a racially diverse Regency romance series but quickly lost interest when all the talk was about how “spicy” it was. When it comes to fiction, I’m not sex-repulsed, but my aroace butt has very little interest in that sort of thing, and I didn’t really see the appeal of the show when perfectly non-spicy Jane Austen adaptations were right there. But fast-forward to watching Wicked last November. As I sat in the theater, vibrating with excitement at all the amazing things happening onscreen, I could feel my platonic crush on Jonathan Bailey developing in real time. I knew vaguely that he was on Bridgerton, because I’d seen stuff come across my social media periodically and I recognized him from the excellent Twelfth Doctor story “Time Heist.” After I finished reeling from the wonder of “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” and “Dancing Through Life,” I found myself thinking, “Wait, do I need to watch Bridgerton for this dude?”

Fortunately, it turns out Bridgerton is fun and isn’t just wall-to-wall sex—there’s plenty of romance and yearning and sly humor in there too. I’m not a huge fan, but I do enjoy it, and when I say Anthony is my favorite Bridgerton, it’s only in part because of my bias. And while Anthony isn’t the only character on the show (or in the Bridgerton family!) who reads as neurodivergent to me, my bias is the reason I’m writing about him first. Let’s talk Anthony Bridgerton!

Look, when it comes to ND headcanons, you often hear people argue, “They’re not autistic, they’re traumatized!” It’s true that there’s a lot of overlap between PTSD and autistic traits, and it’s true that plenty of fictional characters—Anthony very definitely included—have all sorts of trauma. But if I may, why not both? So many autistic people in the real world have c-PTSD, so it stands to reason that some of the traumatized characters in fiction are also autistic.

The trauma that has shaped Anthony’s adult life happened when he saw his father die in front of him, very unexpectedly. His father died due to anaphylaxis from a bee sting, something they didn’t even know was possible. In an instant, bewildered and grieving, Anthony inherited his father’s title of viscount, and with it all the responsibilities that entails. His grieving mother was heavily pregnant with his seventh sibling, and when she went into labor shortly afterwards, complications arose. Anthony was told that, if the time came, it would be his duty to decide whether to save his mother or the baby. He experienced a whirlwind of heartbreak and terror in a very short time, and as he watched his mother lose herself within her own sorrow, he decided that he would never fall in love—he never wanted anyone else to experience that kind of pain because of him.

Naturally, being a character in a Regency romance who’s vowed never to fall in love is just asking for trouble, and it’s only a matter of time before Anthony meets Kate, the woman who completely spins him around. But before that happens, Anthony sees marriage purely as another one of his many duties. When he announces his intention to take a wife, what he’s really looking for is a suitable viscountess—and in marriage, as in most things, he sets out to do it as correct as possible. Anthony approaches most of his objectives with a “normal to want and possible to achieve” attitude. He’s going to win at managing his sister Daphne’s suitors in season 1, he’s going to win at croquet and charades, and he’s definitely going to win at marriage.

This manifests itself in strict attention to detail and exacting standards that can’t be deviated from under any circumstances. With Daphne, he at first chases away every potential suitor because he finds fault with all of them. And when Daphne points out that that’s the complete opposite of what they’re going for, his calculations change: he’d thought his duty was to find his sister the perfect husband, but above all, his duty is to actually find her a husband. So he swings to the other end of the pendulum and arranges an engagement with the first respectable gentleman he can get his hands on. Achievement unlocked, Best Viscount/Older Brother Ever? Not quite, because Daphne—understandably—wants a say in her own future and hates the notion of being traded away. In Anthony’s desperation to do right by his duty and his sister, he takes multiple big swings in the wrong directions, missing important considerations because he goes all in on what he thinks is the one correct way to do things.

Likewise, in his own search for a wife/viscountess, Anthony draws up a list of the qualities he needs, refuses to deviate from it, and systematically meets with young ladies one by one, inevitably taking note of how each one doesn’t measure up. And even though his title makes him the most eligible bachelor of the season, his forthrightness doesn’t win him any favors. When he sets his sights on Kate’s younger sister Edwina, the most “correct” choice, Anthony is (mostly) a dutiful and respectful gentleman. But he very specifically does not want to marry for love, and he can’t supply the sort flowery courting that Edwinda is hoping for. On the one occasion where he tries, showing up with one of Benedict’s poems and attempting to pass it off as his own, he abandons it halfway through to make this speech:

“I cannot do this. I cannot claim these words as my own—they are someone else’s entirely. Truth be told, I’m not a man of poetry. Words of flattery are beautiful and sweet, but they are also hollow unless accompanied by action. Miss Edwina, I could stand here and pretend to be someone I am not. I could pretend to want the very same things as you, but I would be lying. I may not be able to…offer the display of passion that you truly deserve. But I assure you that when it comes to action and duty, I shall never be found lacking. And I hope that is what will speak louder than any pretty words ever can.”

With Anthony’s strict adherence to duty and his insistence on the most correct way of doing things, falling in love with Kate throws him for a loop. Given his past trauma and his vow, falling in love with anyone would’ve been distressing for him, but the fact that it’s Kate in particular feels all wrong for him. Edwina is the plan, the goal. She’s the queen’s chosen “diamond of the season.” Kate is the spinster older sister, whose temperament seems ill-suited for a viscountess. What’s more, she loathes Anthony due to some frank remarks she heard him make about marriage, she’s doing her best to thwart his intentions toward Edwina, and she keeps showing him up when he’s trying to win. Kate is the opposite of the plan, and Anthony can’t deal with the fact that he’s falling for her. This makes him even more determined to keep his focus on Edwina, which winds up hurting all three of them.

In a very buttoned-up society that’s concerned about reputation, protocol, and propriety, you’d think Anthony’s fastidious nature would work to his advantage, but instead it makes him stand out. Other characters think he’s too intense, too much, and even young women who are vying for the viscount’s attention are put off by his unvarnished honesty. But personally, these traits endear Anthony to me so much. I’m glad that being with Kate makes him happy and helps him relax a little, but I like that loving her doesn’t turn him into a completely different person. He can be happy and more relaxed without losing the traits that are such a major part of him.