Emma Stone in 'Bugonia.' Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Buried way down in the end credits is an acknowledgment that Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia is based on the film Save the Green Planet! Audiences familiar with that 2003 Korean sci-fi comedy, written and directed by Jang Joon Hwan, will be at a distinct disadvantage in terms of surprises. But for anyone coming fresh to the American remake, there are plenty of weird twists, explosive violence, bursts of slapstick physical comedy and satirical jabs. Either way, the pleasure of watching Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons go at it as a Big Pharma executive and a crunchy-granola conspiracy theorist is reward enough. Related Stories Movies StudioCanal Acquires International Rights to Mike Figgis' 'Megalopolis' Fly-on-the-Wall Film 'Megadoc' Movies 'The Kidnapping of Arabella' Review: Chris Pine Speaks Italian in a Kooky Road Movie that Overstays Its Welcome While Stone memorably worked with Lanthimos on The Favourite and Poor Things, she was joined by Plemons last year in the director's enigmatic triptych, Kinds of Kindness. Their new collaboration is more satisfying than that uneven and overlong puzzle box, not to mention more readily coherent as a narrative. But it does feel almost like a repertory company lark, dashed off between more ambitious projects, prompting the hope that the Greek director will scale up again soon. Bugonia The Bottom Line An enjoyably odd genre hybrid. Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)Release date: Friday, Oct. 31Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia SilverstoneDirector: Yorgos LanthimosScreenwriter: Will Tracy, based on the film Save the Green Planet!, written and directed by Jang Joon Hwan 1 hour 50 minutes Plemons plays Teddy, an apiarist and dark web surfer convinced that the colony collapse disorder that devastated the honeybee population is about to be visited upon humanity. He has gotten his younger cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) on board with his paranoid - or perceptive? - belief that aliens from the neighboring Andromeda galaxy are preparing to destroy Earth. Like a New Age cult leader with just one acolyte - and even he doesn't seem 100 percent convinced - Teddy drills Don on the need to clear their "psychic cachets" and shut the Andromedons out of their "brain boxes." "Procreation is just a pain trap," says Teddy, who injects them both with a "chemical castration" formula in order to kill any sexual urges, harness the neurons and be their own masters. In other words, they need to shape up if they are to outwit a bunch of crafty extraterrestrials and save the world. Adapted by The Menu screenwriter Will Tracy (who also worked on Succession), the film unfolds like a ticking clock, counting down the last days until a lunar eclipse. Teddy's plan kicks into action when he and Don kidnap Michelle (Stone), the hard-edged, high-powered chief executive of a pharmaceutical giant, convinced she is an alien infiltrator. Tracy and Lanthimos have already given Michelle a cunning intro by that point, revealing her to be a master of empty corporate-speak. She talks about the importance of diverse thinking to change the work culture and introduces a company-wide policy under which employees should be encouraged to leave the office promptly at 5:30 p.m. "But feel free to stay longer if you have work to finish." Michelle is as physically fit and quick-thinking as she is sharp in business acumen, so she puts up quite a fight when Teddy ambushes her in her driveway. DP Robbie Ryan captures the struggle in hilarious wide shots, showing us the impressive home and manicured grounds while Lanthimos and longtime editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis jump from one striking observation point to the next. Only when Teddy pins her down long enough to inject a tranquilizer is Michelle finally subdued. The kidnappers take her to Teddy's house and strap her to a table in the basement, after taking precautions to make sure she's not traced by fellow Andromedons. They smash her phone, and shave off her hair - supposedly the only way she can be identified by her kind - and smear antihistamine cream on her arms, legs and head to weaken her. Don is permanently on the verge of full-blown panic and constantly muttering that he's not up to the task. But Teddy silences his doubts: "It's not in control anymore," he says, indicating Michelle. "We are." He interrogates her repeatedly, urging her to admit she's an alien so she can get on with facilitating his demands for an audience with her emperor and a promise that she will persuade her species to leave Earth. Michelle barks threats, attempts to reason with him ("Can we have a dialogue?"), plays along by feigning a confession to mock him, and tries winning over Don while Teddy is upstai