What 'Bugonia' Can Teach Filmmakers About Building Tension

It's rare to sit down in a movie theater these days and not know what you’re going to see, or even what’s going to happen from scene to scene.

Most stories follow tropes and structures that take us from beat to beat in a fairly predictable manner. And those stories can be strong in their own ways—sometimes that narrative tidiness allows us to enjoy other things, like character or visual or dialogue. But when you get something totally different, a story that’s so unpredictable you have no idea what will happen, it’s a unique viewing experience.

And it doesn’t really happen that often. I always think of Ari Aster’s Hereditary , or Mary Harron’s American Psycho. Those films killed off main characters and went in bonkers directions, especially in their finales. It’s riveting.

Last year’s Bugonia , directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is similar.

The video essayist Aron over at Just One More Thing recently broke down why Bugonia remains unpredictable throughout its runtime. The essay compares it scene-by-scene to the South Korean original, Save the Green Planet. Although it’s the same premise, you get two completely different experiences as a viewer.

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Simplifying Might Be the Right Choice

Writer Will Tracy's script cut two major elements from the original. In the Korean film, the sidekick is a girlfriend, and she has a subplot about running away and starting over. There’s also a parallel police investigation storyline, which shows the active investigation.

By cutting both, Bugonia allows more space for the core characters. We get their motivations, quirks, and tension. We also get only the information they have, so we feel more in the story with them.

If we had cut away to the police, it would have given us more about what investigators know and how close they are to finding them, which likely would have lessened tension. Instead, we’re left wondering, and the danger of discovery always looms.

What's pulling focus from your central conflict? What subplot exists because you think it needs to be there versus because it genuinely earns its place?

Withhold the Right Thing, Not Everything

The essay points out that Bugonia doesn't reveal its central premise (which is that two guys are kidnapping a corporate exec because she's an alien) until 20 minutes in.

Even so, the audience is never confused. They're curious.

Lanthimos withholds the "what" while giving us plenty of character behavior to latch onto. Who are these two men? What’s their relationship? What are they planning? And who is this icy exec? How will they come crashing together?

We know something is about to happen, and it feels ominous. We don’t have to know the specifics of what or why yet, because we trust the filmmaker to eventually tell us. (In contrast, we know about the aliens in the original Korean film in about two minutes.)

Withholding information to create confusion is annoying. Withholding the details while showing you the behavior creates suspense.

On the writing side, you have to trust your audience, too. Lanthimos talks about leaving gaps for the audience to fill in. We’ve talked about building tension in screenwriting, which also gets at this distinction. Sometimes releasing specific information creates more tension than keeping everything in the dark.

Bugonia Credit: Focus Features

Let Characters Drive Unpredictability

Lanthimos and Tracy refused to let the story dictate the film, as the essay points out. The characters do instead.

Jesse Plemons's Teddy is unstable in a specific, earned way. He has anger issues and seems to be mentally unwell. So every confrontation with Michelle is dangerous in a character-specific way, not a manufactured-thriller way.

Emma Stone's Michelle is emotionally and traditionally intelligent and manipulative, so you're never quite sure whether to trust her reasoning.

Their unpredictability comes from who they are, not from plot machinations. This is the difference Martin Scorsese talks about when he says he keeps coming back to films for character, not plot. For emerging writers, the question isn't, "What’s the wildest thing that could happen next?" but "Given who this person is, what are they capable of in this situation?"

As you’re writing and directing, keep coming back to the characters. What do they want from each moment? And how can that guide the action of your story?

Subverting a Trope Only Works If You've Set It Up

The essay points to the scene where the cop visits Teddy's house. In the Korean original, this scene uses every "narrow escape" beat you've seen a hundred times. Clues being missed, the captive reaching for help but not being seen, and last-second distractions. It's slightly rote and… yes, predictable.

Lanthimos uses the same scenario but shuts down the trope almost literally. The cop arrives after an altercation with Michelle, at a moment of violence. So the tension is already high. The cop is Teddy's old babysitter, just stopping by to catch up. Teddy knows what clues would give him away, and he either hides them or explains them. And the cop doesn’t really care.

It works because the film has already established that we don't know what the police know. We've been kept in the dark on their side of the investigation. It turns out this police officer doesn’t know anything, really, and he only dies because inside the house, a parallel conversation is happening during which Michelle inadvertently convinces Teddy’s cousin Don to shoot himself.

If you find yourself in a situation where tropes would be the easy out, can you play against them?

'Bugonia' Credit: Focus Features

Let Tension Accumulate

The essay points out that in Save the Green Planet , every suspenseful scene follows the same pattern: build, release, build, release. It works in bursts but doesn't linger.

It's easy to fall into this pattern, whether it's beat-to-beat or scene-to-scene. If things start feeling mechanical, it's time to shake it up.

Bugonia builds tension that carries over from scene to scene. Things keep getting worse, and power dynamics shift. The audience is constantly questioning who is right, and who is telling the truth. Could Michelle actually be an alien? Surely not. Unless…

For writers and directors, think about where your tension goes after the peak of a scene. Does it fully reset? Does it need to?