One might be surprised that Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest is a remake
(adapted from the 2003 Korean classic Save the Green Planet!)— the film
manages to be both prime Lanthimos and his most pointed examination
of contemporary society. An obsessive conspiracy theorist and his cousin
(a marvelous Jesse Plemons and striking newcomer Aidan Delbis) kidnap
a slick, rich pharma executive (Emma Stone), insisting that she admit
to being part of an alien species that’s been conducting experiments
on humans. What unfolds is a battle of competing mythologies, as the
pandering corporate exec and the wild-eyed, did-my-own-research loon
go at it in extended sequences full of subtly shifting power dynamics. It’s
Lanthimos’s most claustrophobic film, and perhaps the one most grounded
in today’s realities. And it all concludes (no spoilers) with a series of shots
that send the film spinning in a heartbreaking new direction.