Greetings again from the darkness. We can only assume there were conspiracy theorists during the time of cavemen since alarmists have existed at every other stage of humanity. It’s intriguing to assume there is more going on ‘behind the curtain’ than what we see with our own eyes. We feel there must be a reason those other people get rich or escape the judicial system or hold onto power … while we are stuck in the role of being just everyday folks. Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has a track record of unconventional projects (POOR THINGS, 2023; THE FAVOURITE, 2018; THE LOBSTER, 2015), and this time, he and screenwriter Will Tracy (THE MENU, 2022) have remade the 2013 award-winning South Korean cult film, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET!, by Jang Joon-hwan … and it’s a doozy.
Teddy (Jesse Plemons) is a radicalized beekeeper whose conspiracy theories have been built through specific podcasts and online extremists. He has dragged his well-meaning cousin Don (the film debut of neurodivergent actor Aidan Delbis) so far into these beliefs that they have both chemically castrated in order to remain focused. That focus is on Michelle Fuller (two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone), a high-powered Biomedical CEO, whom the men are convinced is the Earth-based leader and mastermind of the aliens committed to destroying mankind.
Adding to this is the distinct contrast between these two factions. Teddy and Don are a grungy, unkempt duo living in a dilapidated house, while Michelle is an impeccably dressed, confident woman living and working in a pristine home and office. A less-than-smooth kidnapping occurs as the men wear jumpsuits and masks that are worth a chuckle. Once Michelle is chained to the cot in their basement, her head is shaved (for real) and antihistamine cream is spread over her body. Teddy believes she communicates with her home base through her hair, and that the cream will numb her powers against them.
This is as bonkers as it sounds, yet it’s actually very intense and leads to some elevated verbal sparring between Teddy the believer and Michelle the polished executive. Corporate greed, big pharma, and the destruction of bees are all topics of discussion, and these conversations are key to the story. See, it’s only three days to the next lunar eclipse and Teddy is convinced that’s the only window for negotiations with Michelle’s alien community.
Stavros Halkias as the local sheriff and Teddy’s former babysitter, and Alicia Silverstone as Teddy’s mother have key supporting roles. Production Designer James Price creates the contrast required for the story, and composer Jerskin Fendrix fits the mood for each scene. Whether you figure out the twist early or not, it’s still worthy of discussion on whether aliens are a bigger threat to our planet than ourselves.
Posted by David Ferguson 
Greetings again from the darkness. Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is possibly the most divisive director working today. Movie goers tend to either love his films like THE FAVOURITE (2018), THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (2017), THE LOBSTER (2015), and DOGTOOTH (2009) or walk away baffled that any decent human being could enjoy such dark works of strangeness and oddity. Despite this, two of his films have received Oscar nominations, and this latest may be both his most accessible and most outrageous project yet. It’s also a rare outing where Lanthimos left the writing to others. His co-writer on THE FAVOURITE, Tony McNamara (“The Great”) has adapted the screenplay from the 1992 novel by renowned Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, whose tome was influenced by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 