Bugonia

Bugonia mines the botched kidnapping movies of yore. Oldboy. Fargo. Prisoners. Ruthless People. Raising Arizona. It’s always botched. It never works. But we spend a lot of time expanding and exploring delusional kidnappers Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis) so when it all invariably goes south we’ll feel for these dumbass weirdos who believe Emma Stone is an alien experimenting on his comatose, hospitalized mother. It’s fairly straightforward – until it isn’t. Revelations occur (as they do) and parables are attempted. The acting is above par, especially from spectrum-y Aidan Delbis as a reluctant, sympathetic accomplice of the cause. Ultimately, though, this comes up icky and empty. Aforementioned revelations play as shocking and darkly humorous, but not really provocative in the way the filmmakers intend. To be clear: I appreciate risk. I admire nuttiness. I’m grateful when I don’t walk out of the theater muttering, “Oh, that old chestnut.” So, two points for Gryffindor. Nevertheless, this frustrates.