Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis

Directed by Yorgos Lanthamos

Focus Features, out now

Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

Director Yorgos Lanthamos has delivered enough ‘weird’ movies (The Lobster, The Favourite, Poor Thing, Kinds of Kindness) that it would be hard to argue that you don’t know what to expect from his new project. True to form, Bugonia – which is based on Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 Korean movie Save the Green Planet! – is weird but is also accessible to a mainstream audience.

The main conceit here is whether Jesse Plemons’ Teddy is correct in his belief that tech CEO Michelle (Emma Stone) is in fact part of an Andromedan vanguard that has infiltrated Earth and is carrying out experiments on its denizens. He’s a broken man, carrying a lot of anxieties following the hospitalisation of his mother, and he has tumbled down the conspiracy rabbit hole, tilting his head at windmills.

Teddy is also dangerous and is willing to use violence to justify his means, and together with his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) they kidnap the feisty She-EO. Understandably, she initially denies that she’s an alien but changes her tune in the hope that she might be released if she plays the game. Is she so inhuman in her treatment of her underlings because she isn’t a human, or has she lost her humanity on the climb to the top of the corporate ladder?

Most significantly, what is the actual truth, and can we handle it? Are the conspiracy theories so ridiculous that they must be true, or are they the wishful delusions of damaged minds? Lanthamos keeps us guessing to the end and is served by two excellent lead performances.

Verdict: Frequently hilarious, tragic and audacious, this might be my favourite Lanthamos yet. You’ll definitely be talking about it afterwards and I can’t wait to see it again. 9/10

Nick Joy