Archive
BUGONIA – Jerskin Fendrix
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The term ‘bugonia’ comes from Latin and Greek, and relates to an ancient concept or myth describing the spontaneous generation of bees from the carcass of a dead ox. Philosophically and symbolically, bugonia reflects beliefs in the idea that living creatures can arise from non-living matter, as well as themes of death, rebirth, and transformation. In literary and religious contexts, it often serves as a metaphor for resurrection, drawing parallels between natural cycles and human or divine renewal. All this explains perfectly many of the underlying themes of director Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film, Bugonia. The film stars Jesse Plemons as disaffected conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz, who has persuaded his autistic cousin Don (newcomer Aidan Delbis) to help him kidnap Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the wealthy and powerful CEO of a pharmaceutical megacorporation. Teddy has convinced himself that Michelle is secretly an alien from Andromeda who wants to destroy Earth, and he is determined to make her admit her true identity, and then take him to meet her ‘emperor’ so that he can initiate peace talks with them. Read more…
POOR THINGS – Jerskin Fendrix
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The latest film from the unconventional cinematic mind of director Yorgos Lanthimos is Poor Things, which if you were to distill it down to its core could be best described as a feminist take on the Frankenstein story. The film is set in Victorian London and stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a child-like young woman in the care of Godwin Baxter, an eminent surgeon with horrific facial scars (played by Willem Defoe, doing an excellent Edinburgh accent). It is revealed to Godwin’s student Max McCandles (Rami Youssef) that Bella is actually a resurrected suicide victim whom Godwin revived by transplanting her brain with that of her unborn child, resulting in her literally being a baby in a woman’s body. Initially Godwin and McCandles teach Bella as one would an infant, and McCandles falls in love with her and asks for her hand in marriage; however, as Bella matures, she starts to desire more freedom, and eventually leaves on a grand tour of Europe with Godwin’s lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). This leads Bella on a journey of philosophical and sexual self-discovery – a journey which is interrupted when her past begins to catch up with her. Read more…
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