Bugonia: this dark comedy, by Yorgos Lanthimos, follows a pair of men, the type who doesn’t get their news from the news, as they kidnap the CEO of a pharma company. Not for money, but because they need her, believed to be an alien, to put them in contact with the emperor of a galactic superpower to save Earth. What follows is a mental battle among the trio; the film manages to keep interest high despite no character being sympathetic. Emma Stone plays the victim, who, as a high executive, is quite insufferable; she manages to get the tone right as she finds herself, for once, in a helpless situation. The dependable Jesse Plemons plays the ringleader quite well, a disturbed man who has all the conviction in the world; Aidan Delbis plays his autistic cousin convincingly. Aesthetically, the film does all it can to create an uncomfortable experience: cinematographer Robbie Ryan places and moves the camera, and frames the action, just a bit off normalcy; composer Jerskin Fendrix’s musical score is also just odd enough (but still interesting). Editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis gives the film a nice rhythm.