Tony Scott’s short video “Beat the Devil” (2002) features James Brown who sold his soul to the devil to whom Brown came back for a renewal contract which includes the aging issue to be resolved. It’s hilariously crazy with high beat up onto (music wisely, I mean), and the cast is perfect. The length is merely 10 minutes, many oh! wow! insanities are though packed in.
James Brown, Gary Oldman (whom I used to mistake as Sam Rockwell), Clive Owen, and all others are perfect-fit into the story. Well, story? Yes, it is a story of parodies on devil-soul transaction, show biz pressure, vampire neighbor, and drive game as fatal ride. Most importantly though for me is a young black musician stands on the road, crossroads or not, to meet a devil or not, he waits for a driver who can take him to the devil’s chamber for the negotiation.
Let me remind you that this publication will not be about Tony Scott’s Beat the Devil. My subjective linkage is onto Sinners (2005) and Robert Johnson. But, don’t be disappointed for I’m not developing what I mean. Whether you agree somewhat or fully with me on that point would depend on your critical eyes as film viewer, or on the total absence of such an attitude. The latter would be often better in my view.
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(my screenshot from YouTube “Beat the Devil” in full. Super easy to find the video online)
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My another screenshot from “Beat the Devil” via YouTube. He’s waiting for a hire or a devil’s thread.
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Am I still a committed movie review essayist in this space? Affirmatively so. Timely regarding Oscar 2026? No-negatively, thus yes. I watched Bugonia (2025) just last night online. Directed by Yórgos Lánthimos, the story based on Jang Joon-hwan’s “Save the Green Planet!” (2003).
I would say if I had known all visual details of Bugonia, I would have skipped it completely, which means I wouldn’t have watched it, only if I am not here a committed movie review essayist. Self-label counts a lot. From this point, I’ll write about Bugonia. Beat aliens, beat the devil, beat vampires, or beat all movie absurdities! Whatever! Please come with me if you’re ready.
FROM HERE, SPOILER ALERT IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
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All images below are screenshots I took from YouTube “Bugonia” trailer.
Ready to go!
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Bee hive heat up or beat the colony. They’re truly committed.
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Her hair was destroyed to prevent the communication with the mothership.
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Inside and out, she truly becomes to look like a creature emerging from horror sci fi or more or less traditional horror films. Did the team of psycho cousins make her be so? Not entirely. The CEO might have been gotten into by herself by this point.
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Don played by Aidan Delbis. The first super-shock scene came with his shot. I’d have definitively quit my viewing at that point if I were not a committed movie review essayist.
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Incredible Jesse Plemons playing Teddy. I’ve been consistently his fan and his admirer. But, this one, this Teddy character… Plemons unleased his actor’s haunt. I became speechless.
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Stavros Halkias, who plays the police officer, sets the cast to be a perfection for the movie. A WSJ review by Kyle Smith, “ ‘Bugonia’ Review: Emma Stone, Extra-Terrestrial?” (10/23/25), mentions “Fargo” (1996: by Coen Brothers) as a passage reference as if it were nothing special, but for me, Fargo and Stavros Halkias in a Bugonia cop is a connective viewpoint made by a genius of movie reviewer.
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Upon her provocation, Teddy is charging over the table at the alien, found to be from a direct lineage of the Emperor standing by in the mothership in the space.
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Bugonia is a black comedy as to be its genre categorization. After the first segment of this publication, I’ve gone to YouTube again to check on the original, “Save the Green Planet!” (2003) trailer. It is a South Korean movie and appears to be much more of comedy plots, pulp fiction like, or with lots of cartoon flavors. The ride mode of “Save the Green Planet!” seems to be more akin to Tony Scott’s “Beat the Devil”. Slapstick comedy, partly, Sci Fi new genre, partially, and mostly to make viewers laugh at all nonsenses, created in a dead heat hilarious mode.
I see Bugonia is a totally different movie from “Save the Green Planet!” by its make, cast, and its plots and details much darker than a black comedy. Humors turn into bloody, grotesquely surreal, the story flow to be more seriously psychopathic. In an implication, it’s possible to see the CEO died upon the explosion of the closet (transportation pod) in the office. Around there, what’s real and what’s not become deliberately unclear. The destruction of humanity as to resolve the failure of aliens’ experiment in the end is a colonial despotism in a Sci Fi version. If not, to fool viewers in stead of being laughed at, could be the filmmaker’s black humor in their part.
Despite all, Bugonia is rewatchable and it may reveal different phases to be found every time it’s reviewed. If such is true and a valide supposition, I can come to one reason only. Bugonia has a perfect cast for the major roles, namely Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis, and Stavros Halkias, all of them are astonishingly wonderful. They beat up the devil of a defective movie, which would be impossible to watch, otherwise.
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Beat up Devil by Juliette Masch (1/29)