Bugonia Movie Night (Premium E326)
After many requests, Jake, Julian, Liv, and Travis finally sit down to discuss Bugonia, the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos. In the film, an alien-pilled beekeeper and his cousin kidnap a high profile CEO named Michelle, convinced she is secretly an alien, and interrogate her for the truth.
Pay no mind to what Liv and Julian say at the end; absolutely no jokes were cut from this episode.
Thanks for subscribing to QAA on patreon.
Check out our new podcast series network Cursed Media and binge the entirety of our new show Science in Transition by Liv Agar and Spencer Barrows: https://cursedmedia.net
Produced by Liv Agar & Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Comments (79)
Wtf did you guys even watch this movie? they don’t “overpower” her once, she beats them up twice and they only kidnap her through sedation. Also there’s absolutely a “watching youtube” scene when he’s biking to work and listening to some dumb fuck podcast about aliens and simulation theory
julian is absolutely insufferable in this one
Part of what felt effective to me about the ending is the way it speaks to the ruling class leveraging language around conspiracy theory debunking in service of hiding actual conspiracies. If the conspiracy theorist characters were 100% wrong the whole time, the viewer may leave with the idea that any "extreme" accusations against those in power must be crazy conspiracy theory. Because the conspiracy theorists were right about the big things, the viewer is left in a more ambiguous space that asks how we know whether an idea is worth considering or investigating; how much evidence we need to believe something; how dominant narratives affect our understanding of truth and conspiracy; and how we understand "fair" repercussions/justice/punishment (recalls conversations about Luigi Mangione). And frankly, in the era of the Epstein Files, that ambiguity feels sooo relevant.
really really enjoyed both the movie and the podcast. I am not the brightest bulb in the shed, so i would not have thought of all the extra layers to this movie myself. Please feel free to cover more 'good' movies if they come across your path. I tried catching up on old movie nights but except for civil war and its discussion most of the movies I tried are pretty awful. :P
I thought the ending was great because it was fun and silly. Sometimes a movie just needs big cheesy costumes
I disagree that the ending undermined the message. What the film is saying is that there's something inhuman(e) about the ruling class - that they're not like us - and that working people are right to be distrustful of them. If she wasn't an alien then all she'd be is a victim, and he'd be nothing more than a delusional madman.
I think him being "just" a delusional madman is a much better and harder hitting point tbh. If his alienation and misery turns into recognition of how he's being exploited by the upper class, and that realization has nowhere to go but to be warped by internet alien conspiracists, I think that tells a much darker and more realistic story of what it's like to have mental illness in a rural area with no resources.
I know the hosts were upset with the ending but from what I read it stayed true to the original
Do we actually know if the conspiracy was real at the end? Or do we just see what Jesse Plemons’ character believes would happen? And maybe that’s the point. Conspiracy, truth, belief, for certain people from their perspective, it is real. When will we ever learn…
I left the theater choosing to believe this lol even though I don't necessarily think it was intended
Oh and I forgot to mention, Arrow Films just put out a new film transfer of “Save the Green Planet,” on UHD Blu-ray. It’s absolutely beautiful, totally worth your $30.
Wait, the word on the street is Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos are fucking? I never got that vibe. Seeing them together, it always seemed more like an artist and muse thing, Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick style.
Still waiting on the Society movie night. Until then all movie nights feel weak
The game was called battle zone
Bugonia was good. It’s not The Lobster or TKOASD, though.
If you watch Save the Green Planet, Bugonia will pale in comparison, at least that’s how I felt. Way more buck wild, hilarious and ambitious in tone. The Lee Byeong-gu character is fascinating and kind of mocked up in a weird way for Plemons in Bugonia
Been a while since I saw Save the Green Planet, but I believe the twist comes from there.
I do like how movies still do this “climate change and environmental destruction? Yeah, that’s normal peoples’ fault”
I adored this movie. But Don was so difficult to watch. His mannerisms and voice reminded me so much of my 6 year old son, it was really hard to keep going.
I don’t care what you say, Poor Things was a great movie. The Menu was great too. Bugonia was alright. The ending was a bit silly but I enjoyed it.
American literalism at it's finest, 3 spergs criticise a movie for not being as on the nose as their own silly, vulgar and let's be honest "liberal" idea of resistance. Of course one schizoid guy will fuck it up, despite being fundamentally right. There's over a 200 year revolutionary tradition lamenting the tragedy of individualism terrorism and propaganda by deed. A Greek director will probably have a better grasp on this, than 3 American podcasters, who discovered social democracy via the DSA.
Only two out of the four of them are American, and neither of the biggest critics of the film in this episode are from the US.
Movie was so ecofascist it made the boys like Eddington.
Haven't seen it, but I've seen enough Yorgos to imagine the experience. (His best is still Lobster.) From what it sounds like, Jake is on to something. The ending should have been: The aliens are real, they are the capitalist class, and you are absolutely helpless to stop them. And anything you do to try is only going to make things worse.
I for one appreciate your cumtown/Staveros pun, Travis.
I love the idea that a literal alien god would still lowball you on a financial settlement. Like damn, they still care about their front company's profit margins within their little sea monkey colony.
I feel like the whole point of the ending was how everything ultimately devolves into B-movie absurdity. The deeper you dig, the more untethered you get from anything that's remotely plausible. I was also surprised by how closely it follows the beats of Save the Green Planet. Bigger budget, a few cultural changes, actors that Western audiences recognize, but the plot and tone are largely the same.
also realizing that the last act of Eddington is the same deal.
Liked the movie, had no idea above Save our Green.. definitely going to watch it now. I also kind of thought the ending was irresponsible in today's world. Almost like that Amazon show Utopia during Covid. The reason he says he's not a kid anymore btw is because he met her when he was a kid, she discussed the trials with his Mom. Also why he questions her age. But ultimately this is just cosmic horror dressed up in pilled dialogue. The aliens made us, control us, play with us and can destroy us at will and whim and there's nothing we can do about it.
Great episode of this podcast though I've missed the Julian and Jake boys dynamic lately lol
Yeah the way this movie plays out makes me fucking hate it its like lowkey eco fascist dreck kind of squanders everything good about it
I saw the ending coming a mile away and was trying to tell from the tone the whole time whether it was the kind of movie that would go that way or not. Also, FAnon Anonymous
Rabbit Hole bullshit (the Kevin Roose podcast series) from the Times is how I found you guys in 2020
Still don't understand why Save the Green Planet needed a remake...
I was hoping they would do something different with it, but nope not even a bit especially after hearing the podcast I think instead of watching this I'll re-watch STGP
Fun episode. And a second season of Spectral Voyager on the way? Hell yeah !!🙌 Let's go !!🤗
Can anyone recommend more Bugonia/Eddington style movies about pilled people?
Julian is so so negative. Aren't these movie night episodes supposed to be at least a bit fun?
There’s a time in the life of every QAA who doesn’t identify as a socialist/ Marxist/ Communist that Julian’s socialist critiques are simply a fact of life on this show. If nothing else his consistency is proof of his sincerity. (I guess)
Is message that they are "right" abt everything but there is nothing we can do abt it.
This ep was very helpful to me because I accidentally watched the whole movie without sound bc someone on the plane was watching it in front of me.
I don’t feel like the end of this movie had only two options. There could have been a cool third way where she is not actually an alien, but she is actually part of a very human cabal doing basically the exact things that Teddy claims. He is right, but he just got lost in the whole alien explanation. Teddy still does die, we are confronted by the horrors of his actions, but we are then also confronted by the orders of magnitude worse horrors being perpetrated by this all too human project. How I would have ended it anyway.
Spot on 👉 Why should this cabal be of alien origin when there are plenty of these earthling groups conspiring against us to prop up their dying capitalist system ?
Re: Emma Stone’s reaction to Teddy ‘s disbelief and the opinions that ‘oh she’s just an alien’ or ‘oh she’s just cold’ I read that scene completely differently in the moment as she was trying to connect with him and show him that she was treating him as an equal and with respect. She was trying to hold her own sanity together and not antagonize someone she saw as absolutely bonkers. Made sense to me before the twist at the ending.
Greeks represent!!🇬🇷🇬🇷
I was surprised that they all took Emma Stone’s character at her word. The film gives me absolutely no reason to believe that she’s telling the truth in her little “Atlantis to war to Noah’s arc to apes” fable. If anything, it gives me multiple reasons to believe she’s lying.
This scene is almost verbatim in the Korean movie, but with an overt implication that the CEO had been reading the bee keeper’s conspiracy theory books while he was out, and is repeating stuff from the books to try to appease him.
Movies can and should especially in these times have a message. While moral ambivalence is intersting and has its moments, the great thing about Bertold Brecht's plays are that they have messages that can be clearly understood and despite beautiful language aren't muddled in ambiguity or complex metaphors. Art with clear messages can inspire people to act, that is why clear revolutionary art is important. Btw, that's also the reason "One battle after another" sucks.
Agree with the first part 100 percent but I am confused with your dislike of OBAA, it felt like it definitely had a message.
Once again taking this opportunity to say that Eddington was brilliant and perfect.
It would have been worthwhile, if the "twist" had been that she was ultimately driven mad by her captors' madness.
I found it to be incredibly irresponsible filmmaking in a post-Pizzagate/post-QAnon world.
…As in someone vulnerable watches this and declares this to be ‘soft disclosure’ or ‘programming’ or whatever the current jargon is and that it’s ‘all true’? Yeah I see your point here.
I understood the last act to be Lanthimos *showing* (not *telling*) audiences: the rich and powerful ARE a different species, for all intents and purposes. At the end of the day, they will retreat to their bunkers/headquarters ("motherships") and end all life on earth if we allow them to manipulate us, or if we show them mercy, or trust for a second that they have the interests of the human species in mind. By believing the CEO when she uses his mother as bait (taking advantage of his human instincts/empathy in the face of suffering that she created in the first place!) ..he loses. We all lose. Allowing the wealthy to live is allowing them to manipulate us. Allowing them to live is an act of submission, because they almost literally DO sit above the Earth, ready to pop our atmosphere with a pin whenever they find themselves feeling a little too disgusted or offended by the masses. We actually are a subspecies in their eyes.
To me it seemed pretty obvious that she’s always lying. She’s lying when she’s pretending to be human, and changing her tune to agree with him doesn’t stop her lying. The only true thing she ever shows is her anger at him killing those she thinks of as people.
The takeaway I'm getting is that you should watch good movies more often, please
i needed a movie night, friends. Thank you
Kinda thought we were getting an Iran episode but I do love a movie night
Gut feeling? Based off this shows occasional coverage of the Ukraine conflict. If we get one at all it’s going to be put off for as long as possible. Julian’s gut instinct is to be pro anyone who’s against America given if there’s a part of him that knows better.
Please watch neighbors on HBO!
If they're still taking requests any chance we could get Paranoia Agent? I think the whole thing is streaming on Crunchyroll and Amazon. It's a 12 episode anime about a social panic taking over Japan after a viral incident compounds syncretically with internet conspiracy theories and sensationalist news coverage. Great little show from the mid 2000s told semi-anthology style as it switches characters every episode to showcase why a variety of people in very different situations ultimately give in to the social panic to compensate for their mental distress.
Fuckin yes
IDK what J’s on about, The Menu was a fun day at the movies.
This movie would have been more poignant if the conspiracies represented something more contemporary because I feel like all the stuff Teddy believed in was more like what people believed in before QAA (edit: whoops meant Qanon lol) and internet poisoning. I friggen loved the movie tho
Yeah, it could have been updated more from the original.
Bugonia was FIRE!
If you want another movie recommendation I’d love to see a movie night of Sasquatch Sunset.
I met Brad at a showing of that movie! He asked a question during the Q&A and I was like, “That voice sounds extremely familiar”
A tiktoker I watch didn't like this movie because she thought it would make people feel vindicated in their want to do violence against women. That was like.. her main take away.
Thats understandable. When I played Mortal Kombat in 1993 I suddenly could not stop ripping peoples spine out of their body whenever I hear the phrase “finish him!”.
Spoilers I guess The thing with the twist is that Bugonia is based on a 20 year old Korean movie, which also had the same twist, but the context of it being made in the early 2000s in South Korea is different from America in the 2020s. This stuff was a lot more fringe at the time. That said, I think the twist still works, because ultimately, Teddy was right by accident, what he’s looking for from it doesn’t wholly match up with the actual dynamics at play, he never actually gets to be fully vindicated, and really, his actions probably make things worse. To me though, the twist is largely secondary to the dynamics throughout the film of a rambling pilled dude talking to someone who can only talk in PMC HR speak, as a fundamental tension in American culture. I would also very much recommend anyone watch the Korean original, Save The Green Planet. You know the story already, but how it gets there diverges in a lot of places. And it’s got a really unique and wild energy to it.
Now I’ve listened to the episode, a couple things to add I guess. The monologue about alien history is in the original film, I like both versions of the film, what I think the scene fumbles from the source material though is that in the original, there’s a much more overt implication in that scene that the CEO read the alien history in the conspiracy theorist’s (played by the green haired dude fron Sympathy for Mr Vengeance btw) books while he was away, leaving the scene as more of a bluff in the moment, rather than laying all the cards on the table. Also, the David Icke-ish stuff is in the original film and the writer/director of that film did explicitly cite researching him as an inspiration I think.
Yesss a movie I have actually watched!
Yesssssssssss
Before I listen, can anyone confirm that Julian didn’t watch this in 480p on a screen cracked android?
I kind of think that’s just his filter for the world
Yesssss! I KNEW you guys would do this one. I was gonna suggest it but I knew I wouldn't have to.
LETS FUCKING GOOOOO
Omg yes!