I didn’t expect these movies to have anything in common thematically
spoiler
but they’re both literally about moon guys making life real sad
Also, both had an immersion breaking moment when someone I know from podcasting showed up halfway through the film.
And they’re both great! Highly recommend to everyone here. I’m sure mostly everyone here has seen I Saw the TV Glow but Bugonia is another Lanthimos banger.
I haven’t seen Bugonia yet and I don’t feel really compelled to. Lanthimos, to me, is one of those directors who’s now just repeating the same thing over and over while his best work is far behind his back (in this case, Kynodontas). But since you compared it to one of the best American movies I’ve seen in the last years, I’ll probably give it a shot. Maybe.
Lanthimos is one of the most overrated directors out there right now. Halfway through Triangle of Sadness I had to turn it off. Like, we fuckin get it bro. You’re not as smart as you think you are.
That’s Ruben Ostlund
Who I think is fine but kind of a liberal douche. Triangle of Sadness is like a less talented, Western Bloc artist’s Disco Elysium. The Square is maybe a bit better politically but it’s very navel gaze-y.
shit, you’re right. in my head theyre the same guy
They aren’t comparable to be honest. I think you might be a bit disappointed in Bugonia, though if you think Dogtooth is his best then you’ll find that Bugonia also has some heavy handed political themes and a lot of similar 1 to 1 drama. I felt like Bugonia was a very Nietszche movie: it talks about domination, taking control of situations, endless cycles of human suffering, hopeless utopias, the slave-master dialectic, genealogy of morals (literally they do talk about genealogy influencing morals). But I also get the sense that it doesn’t necessarily endorse that framework, because the situation that makes that framework apply is pretty ridiculous and is kinda played for laughs.
On that note, do you think Dogtooth was a comedy? I usually don’t have much trouble picking up when one of these movies is mostly supposed to be funny, but with Dogtooth it felt like it wasn’t even darkly humorous.
Yep, I guess he nailed it down the substance of the original movie, Save the Green Planet, which he made Bugonia a remake of.
spoilers for both movies
I watched Save the Green Planet now and you’re right, that part was lifted 1 to 1. I honestly think that they both kinda sucked at delivering those messages because the villain just went on monologues explaining them, instead of using the story as a means to deliver the message. Save the Green Planet at least had the whole sequence where the Andromedans’ sculpting of life on earth was depicted little by little; Bugonia instead had Emma Stone ranting about this supposed history (before it was clear that she actually was an alien) with no visuals, which was not as entertaining.
I think Bugonia improved on every other aspect, though. Almost all the characters in the original movie felt a little flat and the tragedy was overplayed.