118 minutes, opens on Nov 6 ★★★★☆

The story: Two conspiracy-obsessed men, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis), kidnap Michelle (Emma Stone), the head of a large corporation. They are convinced she is an alien seeking to destroy humanity.

Strange times call for strange films, and few auteurs are as qualified as Greek film-maker Yorgos Lanthimos (Kinds Of Kindness, 2024; Poor Things, 2023). He creates stories that speak to the weirdness of the current reality, one filled with otherwise normal folks who believe that vaccines cause autism and Nasa faked the moon landings.

In this black comedy, the Oscar-nominated director takes on another popular belief – that a shadow government controls the world. This belief shaped the South Korean comedy Save The Green Planet! (2003), on which Bugonia is based.

Today, social media has nudged the idea of secret overlords into the mainstream, making this remake more relevant than ever.

Teddy and Don, unlike most fringe theorists, have acted on their thoughts, leading to the chief executive of one of the United States’ most powerful corporations becoming tied up in their basement.

Screenwriter Will Tracy (The Menu, 2022; The Regime, 2024) and Lanthimo...