BUGONIA (2025) - Universal Pictures / Focus Features

Bugonia
Universal Pictures / Focus Features

Original Release Date: Oct. 24th, 2025
Written by Will Tracy, based on Save the Green Planet (2003) by Jang Joon-hwan
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Stavros Halkias
Language English, Spanish, or French, with subtitles also available in English, Spanish, or French

Buy it HERE from Orbit DVD

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie Itself: Excellent

Bugonia is a film that plays with reality. You can read that sentence a few ways and they're each true. Bugonia plays with the audience's understanding of what is really happening, but it also plays around with elements of the world we find ourselves in. When unassuming but intense Teddy (Jesse Plemons), with the help of his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) kidnaps wealthy CEO Michelle (Emma Stone), he doesn't do it out of malice or revenge. You see, Teddy has a crazy theory bolstered by online research and he intends to force Michelle to verify his improbable belief.

Bugonia constantly swaps who we believe. We spend just as much time early on with both factions, so there is no instinctual feeling that one or the other is our main character. Once Michelle is captured, she repeatedly changes her tactics when dealing with the implacable Teddy and much more tender Don, leaving the audience unsure from moment to moment how much of what we're seeing is to be believed. Beyond that, Lanthimos and screenwriter Will Tracy are playing with the preconceptions around conspiracy thought and the conspiracy theorists themselves. But I won't go too much further with that line of thought in order to avoid SPOILERS.

What I will say is that Aidan Delbis is a fantastic discovery and gives a very grounded performance. Being a comparatively inexperienced actor holding his own against Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, two fantastically naturalistic performers, even in something as out there as Bugonia, it's quite a feat.

The Packaging: Average

This is a fairly basic first-run release, but not shabby by any means. There is a slipcover with the same image as the disc cover: a bald Michelle staring upwards in what may be ecstasy, with what looks like honey and blood dripping down the image. It's all very warm; orangey browns and tans with the golden maybe-honey and maroon maybe-blood. Inside you find the sleek black plastic dual disc 4K case. Like I said, a pretty traditional release, but still quite handsome.

The Video: Excellent

The video looks incredible. Bugonia looks incredible and is made more so by largely being unremarkable. There are not many flashy shots or sets on display, but what is here has been crafted with such intentionality that it lends the film a fascination. Sure, Michelle's offices are cool and ultra modern, but it's the home where Teddy and Don live that repeatedly caught my eye. The house was constructed from the ground up in High Wycombe in England (doubling for Atlanta, Georgia) and was designed by set designer Prue Howard. There are so many interesting details, and the choices in color, texture, and layout made every scene shot inside feel like looking into a jewel box.

To that end, the cinematography by Robbie Ryan--his third collaboration with Lanthimos after The Favorite (2018) and Poor Things (2023)--is amazing. Deep colors, deep shadows, an appreciation for light in a space and for the feel of nature, which is a surprisingly relevant subtext for this film. Ryan shot on VistaVision, a technique that utilizes a widescreen version of tradition 35mm film, the same technique recently used on The Brutalist (cinematographer Lol Crawley) and One Battle After Another (cinematographer Michael Bauman) making the 2020s the biggest era for the technique since the late '60s.

All of these details in the settings and location, all the fine detail allowed by the VistaVision format is all beautifully rendered in this release. I was frequently struck by how sumptuous a scene looked, whether it was Michelle being held in the basement or Teddy riding his bike to work in bright sunshine, but somehow it never distracted from the overall film. I felt fully immersed in the experiences, like being there. I don't believe I've ever seen a transfer this satisfying looking, but I'm certainly open to the idea.

The Audio: Excellent

I am incredibly happy to see that composer Jerskin Fendrix is nominated for an Academy Award for this score. For multiple reasons. Firstly, it's just a very good score: it has movement and utilizes an occasional focus on one group of instruments over another to highlight feelings of unease, or to emphasize the scope of Teddy's beliefs with appropriate sonic gravitas. What's more, and is my second talking point, he composed this fantastically well-suited score without access to a script or a rough-cut of the film. Apparently Lanthimos, who Fendrix says "...likes to mess with me", only gave him a handful of key words to work from!

I don't have the fanciest of set-ups currently, just a three-channel soundbar, but I noticed no issues with the audio package for Bugonia. On a practical level, I never had to adjust the volume once I found a good level and despite the presence of the occasional deep tones or intentionally buzzy string section, my soundbar was never tortured, never vibrated to a distracting degree. Additionally, from a mixing perspective, there are scenes with multiple points of audio information and they're all perfectly clear. For example, one scene of Teddy biking features the score, the audio from podcasts he's listening to, and the sounds of the world around him: nature, passing cars, etc. All in a pretty perfect balance.

The Supplements: Average

This only has one feature, I checked both the 4K and standard Blu-ray discs just to be sure, which is underwhelming to put it mildly. This is the main deterrent for me when I consider picking up a recent movie's first major release. But, I will say, it's a very interesting featurette and at over 20 minutes, it's nothing to sneeze at. Would I have liked dedicated, deeper-diving featurettes on the set design, the score, the cinematography, and etc.? I sure would, but I'm not against doing a bit of my own research when something interests me.

• The Birth and the Bees: The Making of Bugonia (23:07) (HD)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended

I've been in the pocket for Yorgos Lanthimos since I went to see The Lobster on a date--yes, and we're still together--and have never really been disappointed in any of his films. Even so, I think Bugonia is a triumph of creativity and fantastic film on multiple metrics. Despite being a remake of a film and sharing a ton of thematic and ideological DNA with that, it is (or I suppose they are) just fantastically unique and thought-provoking. Beyond that, as exemplified above, I loved the production end of things on this film. It looks, sounds, and overall feels fantastic. Just an excellent viewing experience.

If you like auteur filmmaking, UFO / conspiracy thought, paranoid thrillers and stand out, believable performances, Bugonia is a must see, and this release does justice to it all.

BORN IN FLAMES (1983) - Criterion

Born in Flames
Criterion
Original Release Date: Feb. 20th, 1983
Written by Ed Bowes, Lizzie Borden
Directed by Lizzie Borden
Starring Honey, Jean Satterfield, Adele Bertei, Florynce Kennedy
Language English (SDH available)

Get your copy HERE from Criterion, or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Excellent

Half documentary, half science fiction polemic, Born in Flames asks questions that are still as relevant as ever. Instead of imagining a dystopian future, filmmaker Lizzie Borden shows us a future ten years out from a "socio-democratic" victory. Described as "the most peaceful war ever", it seems the U.S.A. just decided they were fed up with fascism and communism and have now settled into a seemingly idyllic worldview. Except not everyone is being treated truly equally.

In the included interview, Borden boils the film down to its central idea: "What if women were still left behind after the socialist revolution? It would be working women and women of color." We are therefore introduced to a number of revolutionaries; women attempting to affect change. Honey (played by Honey), and Isabel (Adele Bertei) both host late night (pirate?) radio shows--Phoenix Radio and Radio Ragazza respectively--playing tunes and urging listeners not to settle for the imperfect world of the new American Socialism, better though it may be, and Adelaide (Jean Satterfield) and Zella (Florynce Kennedy) of the Women's Army, with Adelaide doing the more boots-on-the-ground good work of recruiting and organizing relevant protests, like a secretary's strike.

There are also the Bicycle Brigades, groups of women on bikes who travel the city keeping an eye out for women being harassed, preventing assaults by circling like sharks and drawing attention by blowing whistles. In what I think is a perfect distillation of the film's themes, a newscaster reports that "...officials condemn the lawlessness of such vigilantism asking for information regarding the women involved" before cheekily adding "...perhaps even their telephone numbers."

This shows the central hypocrisy of Borden's futuristic world: women are still not being treated fairly with regards to equal job opportunities and basic physical safety, meanwhile we are shown a cabal of men trying to suss out the leadership structures of these groups and organizations in an attempt to dismantle them. This hypocrisy, that women are not to have their needs taken seriously but are simultaneously a potential threat to all of society, is the logical discordance that drives the film. With Born in Flames, Borden seems to be plainly asking: Which is it?

Borden cast non-actors for most of the roles and, rather than giving them strict lines to follow, would have a discussion of the scene's themes, then allow them to speak their minds. These issues were what was on their minds at the time and, while the issues at hand have most definitely changed, we as a society are still nowhere near anything you could call an idyll.

As things build towards a legitimately quite shocking ending (which is all I will say), Borden's obvious punk ethos and ideals of equality are underlined and undermined in equal measure. Though obviously made inexpensively, and largely lacking recognizable names (there are a few exceptions), Born in Flames is a powerful example of a filmmaker pushing the boundaries of their means, and not being afraid to demand better from the world.

The Packaging: Excellent 

This is your average Criterion packaging, which is overall better and sturdier than your average slim, blue case. The cover image is of Honey staring down the barrel of the camera while addressing the city via her Phoenix Radio show, with appropriately punk-tinged text and visual jazz.

The Audio + Video: Good

This is not a crystal clear film. Borden shot on whatever film was available, including scrap ends, so there are some changes in visual quality from time to time, and overall, even though Born in Flames has been restored, it still looks like what it is: a film more concerned with passion than precision made by a filmmaker with something to say.

But that roughness, the grain, the quote/unquote "imperfections" are emblematic of punk. Born in Flames is gritty, not pretty, and chooses poignancy over technical perfection. This only adds to the faux documentary aesthetic, feeling off-the-cuff and unrehearsed, which sells the reality presented in the film, in turn underscoring the film's once-and-future relevance. It cannot be understated how brilliantly creative this approach is. Rather than setting her film in an overblown dystopia, having the world seem otherwise "good" really demands the viewer interrogate their own world and ideals. More authors spring to mind than have utilized this approach than filmmakers, so aspiring directors: take note.

Special Features: Average

I'm lukewarm on the special features on this one. With something like this, which is fairly unique conceptually and was created in a similarly unique way, I would like all the context you can give me. What's included here is an admittedly very informative interview with Borden, and her previous feature, 1976's Regrouping.

Regrouping, briefly, is another not-exactly documentary. If the opening text is to be believed, it was originally intended to be more of a straight-ahead document of a women's group, before the subject group lost interest, leaving Borden holding the bag. My read on it is that it ends up becoming a frustrating viewing experience about the frustrations she was feeling, but I'll leave you to make your own assessments.

Altogether, I feel like, even supplemented by the essays in the included booklet, I still want for more context.

• Lizzie Borden Interview (12:21)
• Regrouping (1:15:06)

In Summary: Buy it on sale

Obviously, all films are not for all people, and non-narrative (or not-exactly narrative) films can be a slightly taller order. Born in Flames, despite the novelty of its futuristic setting, and the shocks of its climax (which I avoided discussion of because I believe it's best experienced without expectation), this is still ultimately a documentary. However, I feel like the concerns, the issues, at the core of the film are still so prevalent that the film is worth watching as more than just a snapshot of its time. Definitely worth watching, slightly less definitely worth owning.