Audiovisual fiction seems to have detected that we are all somewhat lethargic, not to say anxious, about the drift of civilization in this part of the 21st century. That's why it's adding fuel to the fire with series and films about the end times from different apocalyptic perspectives, whether they pre either post (of Civil War to The Eternaut, of A house full of dynamite to In the end, etc.). Perhaps a title that sowed a glimmer of hope in the face of such a withered mood would be welcome. Or perhaps one that poked fun at so much nihilism. Yorgos Lanthimos has seized upon this second option with BugoniaA dark, exaggerated, and grotesque joke about conspiracy theories that claim the world is going to hell.

The Venice Film Festival brings back fond memories for the artistic duo of Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and American actress Emma Stone. It was in the 2018 Exhibition that premiered The favorite, the film that inaugurated a long and fertile collaboration that, until now, has as its high point the Golden Lion that it took home Poor creatures in 2023. This Thursday the 82nd edition of the Italian competition hosted the world premiere of Bugonia, the fourth project shared by the director of Lobster and the protagonist of La La Land, which is actually a remake from the South Korean film Save the green planet! (2003). Jang Joon-hwan's film was a crazy, surreal pop delirium that played with the theory that the director of a large company could be the emissary of an alien race determined to eliminate the Earth. Now it is reinterpreted, urgently and in a refined way, by a Lanthimos who finds an ideal receptacle for his misanthropic gaze, his mastery of the scene and his taste for brutality.

One of the major issues facing today's world is how the ideological polarization of politics is increasingly spilling over into everyday life and endangering coexistence, especially in a heavily armed society like the United States. Ari Aster points in this direction in Eddington, the debut in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival of the director of Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), who after being acclaimed as a master of modern horror in his first films seems determined to expand his scope. He already did so in the dislocated existential comedy Beau is scared (2023) and repeats the play in Eddington imprinting an overtly satirical and misanthropic tone on the story, which follows a rather bungling sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) with a dysfunctional marriage as he clashes with his town's mayor during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.