Name: when a film refuses to play by the rules
Uploaded: 2026-03-22T08:34:57.000Z
Duration: 19 min 14 s
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Something I really miss from today's cinema is unpredictability.

The tense feeling of uncertainty you get when filmmakers subvert narrative cliches and common tropes.

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It's exciting to feel this tension as a viewer due to the realization that you don't know what to expect from the characters or any given scene.

And the film that made me feel like that recently was 2025's Bugonia by Orgo Stantimos.

For months it kept coming back to my mind and I couldn't figure out why.

The South Korean original called Save the green planet from 2003.

While it's a very different approach to the same premise, seeing the original made it clear to me what made Bugonia work so well.

It made me appreciate the filmmakers and their deliberate way of building an intense film viewing experience.

I'm listening because, after all, how you tell the story matters more than what your story is.

So now I want to take a look at why Bugonia stays unpredictable throughout its whole duration and how Yorgos Lanthimos keeps up the tension while breaking what we expect.

Both films start with two outcasts laying out their plan to kidnap an executive of a pharmaceutical company they suspect is an alien from the Andromeda galaxy.

This simple premise was the one scriptwriter Will Tracy developed into Bugonia.

What I wanted to do was make it probably a bit more of a conversation.

Lots of good, heated, tense and funny chat that could maybe reveal something about the characters.

His screenplay was liked by both Lanthimos and Emma Stone, who joined the project early on, but

the director still worked a bit with Trace on the script to make it more in line with his style.

While the story largely stayed the same as the South Korean original, the adaptation changed several key elements.

These are important because Lanthimos doesn't like to follow the norm.

these changes show how he approaches a story that could have been much more straightforward with another director.

He plays a lot with pacing, the rhythm of editing and the withholding of information, which builds relentless suspense in the viewer.

For example, in Save the Green Planet, the conspiracy theorist's partner is his girlfriend, who is changed into Teddy's cousin Don.

In Bugonia, there is even a small subplot about this girl who leaves her boyfriend Byeongo and joins an acrobat troupe, only to come back and help him in the finale.

Another major thing Bugonia caught was the police investigation.

I was Less interested maybe into the investigation of the CR or the crime itself.

In the Korean version, this storyline runs parallel with the events in the kidnapper's house and even introduces new characters.

So Tracy's script does two things that serve Lanthimos style really well.

It simplifies the story, giving more space to the characters.

And it adds unpredictability by not revealing too much information to the viewers.

While in many movies seeing the police chase the criminals creates suspense, not knowing how close they are to catching them can be even more tense.

Bugonia establishes early on how seriously the police will take this case.

The police and soon thereafter the FBI will begin a statewide manhunt using all of the methods at their disposal.

Due to the high profile of Michelle Fuller, played by Emma Stone.

And later, Teddy even sees a news report about the large scale investigation at his workplace.

Just by placing small hints about the involvement, Lentimus knows that thought will stay in the back of our minds throughout.

Take this scene where not long after the kidnapping, Teddy is pulled over by a police car.

This works exactly because we lack any information from the police's side, putting us into Teddy's shoes.

If it were similar to Save the Green Planet, we would already know about the progress of the police.

The audience feels the tension of the situation.

This shows, well, how Begon manipulate us and keep up the suspense by telling us less.

As it turns out, there was nothing to fear since the cop is Teddy's old babysitter who just wants to catch up.

This means that the film will even withhold information that the characters know, manipulating our emotions throughout the film.

This becomes clear from the first few minutes.

It all starts with something magnificent.

As Teddy explains his thoughts and ideas about bees, their inevitable death and the forces behind it, we might start wondering, what are these guys doing?

We see Teddy and Don as they prepare and train, juxtaposed with Michelle's own training and workday.

As she lives in an entirely opposite world.

Just like most of Lanthimos work, he often plays on these dissonances, like playing an upbeat song over a torture scene or by inserting comedic moments into the most intense situations.

You just look a little funny doing that, to be honest.

Throughout the exposition, he talks about how they control the people and how he resurged in order to recognize them.

What if someone finds out about what we're doing?

No one on earth gives A single fuck about us.

But at this point, we don't know who he's talking about or what their plan is.

And just like in the rest of the movie, the signs are all there.

And then how can you tell she's an alien?

It's only revealed after 20 minutes that they were talking about aliens the whole time.

They withhold the most important detail of the entire premise until the very end of a 20 minute exposition.

But even the kidnapping becomes comical as the two clumsy men are barely able to catch an unassuming woman.

And like, the ineptitude of the attack, kind of is funnier from a wider aspect.

You know, you see it happening and you're kind of like, what is going on?

Lanthimos builds on this, choosing to cut the scene in a way that feels both dense and awkward at the same time.

Something happens in the hedgerow that you don't get privy to, and

you only get told it at the end of the scene when she's got a syringe in her leg.

The clever edit choices in that respect are really, really what make that so effective.

Now compare the exposition to the original.

This happens within two minutes of the start.

It leaves nothing up to interpretation, telling us everything outright.

the protagonist explains how the CEO has the royal DNA, something that only comes up an hour into Bugonia at a critical moment.

Teddy's theory that Michelle is royalty works as a twist that shifts their dynamic and leads to one of the most climactic scenes.

From that point onward, Michelle is no longer beneath Teddy in the hierarchy.

This is shown physically as well, by taking her upstairs, giving her new clothes and sitting down at the same table.

It's crucial because with this shift, Michel's influence grows over the impressionable Teddy, giving her more power in this endless conflict between them.

And this brings us to what's most important in the way Lanthimos tells the story.

Compared to the more conventional, though still weird, approach of the Korean original.

He and Tracy refuse to let the story dictate the film.

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when a film refuses to play by the rules

weird

constantly

intense

approach