"Even as AI threatens to drain the last drops of creative individuality from screen entertainment's future, there is still proof that at least some audiences crave the kinds of idiosyncratic ideas you can only get from an actual human brain. When Yorgos Lanthimos first attracted international attention (to himself, and to the "Greek Weird Wave" of likeminded emerging filmmakers) with his recently-rereleased second feature Dogtooth in 2009, he hardly seemed likely to become some kind of global...er, brand."
"Yet the quease and black humor of that film commenced a following that soon led to English-language cinema (starting with The Lobster in 2015), then improbably to starry, popular movies that get nominated for ( The Favourite) or actually win ( Poor Things) a lot of Oscars. What's more, he hadn't "sold out" in the least: Those hits were just as edgy and frequently off-putting as Dogtooth in their way, albeit on a much grander production scale."
"His muse Stone is back yet again, this time as Michelle Fuller, the CEO of Auxolith, a giant biomedical (i.e. pharmaceutical) company that's probably not among the good guys as far as ethics and pollution and stuff goes. But she certainly feels the need to pretend otherwise, possibly even convincing herself with generous employee terms no one dares take advantage of, plus a personal health regime involving yoga, meditation and such. In the tradition of Steve J"
AI threatens to drain creative individuality from screen entertainment's future, yet some audiences still crave idiosyncratic human ideas. Yorgos Lanthimos gained international attention with Dogtooth and helped define the Greek Weird Wave. Dogtooth's quease and black humor spawned a following that enabled a move into English-language films including The Lobster, The Favourite, and Poor Things while retaining an edgy, off-putting sensibility. Kinds of Kindness, a three-part exercise in absurdist nastiness, failed to connect with many viewers. Bugonia returns Lanthimos to a middle-ground that feels satisfying. Emma Stone plays Michelle Fuller, CEO of a morally ambiguous pharmaceutical company with performative ethics and a strict personal health regimen.
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