Opus, A24’s new horror-tinged thriller from author / director Mark Anthony Green, has rather a lot to say concerning the symbiotic (and typically parasitic) relationship between leisure journalists and celebrities. In the movie’s story about reporters tripping over themselves simply to be near an eccentric music icon, you possibly can really feel Green reflecting on how the media panorama has modified with the rise of recent Content™ empires constructed on parasocial relationships. Many of Opus’ concepts are proper on the cash, and the movie is so fashionable that it’s simple to get swept up in its visible splendor. But other than its glorious authentic songs, the film typically looks like a flimsy rehash of glam-forward options which have come earlier than it.
Though Opus is fictional, Green — a former type editor at GQ — has clearly poured lots of his private experiences into overworked, under-appreciated music journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri). Conceptually, Ariel loves her job protecting popular culture and the best way it provides her alternatives to dig deep into the lives of well-known artists. But she additionally is aware of that regardless of how sturdy her pitches are, her obnoxiously self-involved editor Stan (Murray Bartlett) gained’t assume twice about taking pictures them down, passing them off to another person, or just taking them for himself.
Like everybody else on the planet who is aware of “Dina, Simone” by coronary heart, Ariel can’t assist however really feel just a little excited when she catches wind that reclusive celebrity Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) is gearing as much as launch new music for the primary time in a long time. When Moretti’s longtime supervisor Soledad Yusef (Tony Hale) confirms the rumors through an unhinged YouTube video, Ariel is aware of that somebody at her publication goes to be invited to one of many legend’s customary — and really unique — listening events at his distant desert compound. For apparent causes, Ariel assumes that the task goes to go to Stan. But when Moretti’s invitation arrives on the workplace one morning, Ariel is shocked to search out that it and a big reward basket full of bizarre books are addressed particularly to her.
To Stan and speak present host Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis), Moretti’s get-togethers are excuses to schmooze and reinforce the concept that they themselves are celebrities quite than folks with entry to the wealthy and well-known. For Ariel, although, the invitation looks like a long-overdue probability to lastly put her skills to good use, which is why she takes it upon herself to really learn via a number of the literature Moretti has despatched all of them as preparation for his or her assembly.
Especially as soon as all of Opus’ totally different journalist characters are collectively on a bus, you possibly can hear Green commenting on how the feel and appear of the leisure press has shifted as new mediums have come into prominence and given rise to personalities like phone-addicted influencer Emily (Stephanie Suganami).
Opus presents Ariel — performed with a bookish, decided power by Edebiri — as a lady whose dedication to the basics of journalism contrasts sharply with that of her fame-obsessed friends. Writing a genuinely compelling story about Moretti isn’t all Ariel needs. She additionally has aspirations of changing into famend for her work, which looks like a beat meant to emphasise how reporters of every kind have been pushed to think about and market themselves as manufacturers. But it’s as a result of Ariel is so devoted to observing her topics quite than not-so-humble bragging about being close to them that she’s capable of decide up on how unsettling the whole lot about Moretti’s palatial property is after they all first arrive.
Though Opus’ opening act is stuffed with promise, the movie provides up any pretense of subtlety because it progresses. That’s one of many greater the explanation why it begins to really feel increasingly more like a mission driving the coattails of different latest thrillers about folks excitedly wandering into harmful conditions like Blink Twice, The Menu, and The Invitation. You don’t want a background in investigative journalism to select up on how there’s one thing off about Moretti’s assistant Jorg (Peter Diseth), who teaches music to the various youngsters residing on the compound, or Belle (a really stony Amber Midthunder), one of many minders tasked with following the journalists round night time and day.
A24
Opus leans so closely into the weirdness round Moretti early on that it could by no means create any actual sense of thriller or suspense. It has the aspect impact of creating all the reporters, other than Ariel, appear implausibly dense to the purpose of near-comedy. But the movie does handle to change into momentarily fascinating as soon as it places Moretti himself on display screen and provides you a style of what he’s finest recognized for.
Though Malkovich’s quiet and sphinx-like efficiency as Moretti the person is sweet, it’s when he’s embodying the character’s on-stage rockstar persona and crooning out songs written for the film by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream that Opus feels totally electrical. Between the superb songs and Shirley Kurata’s impeccable costume designing, Moretti reads like an getting old amalgam of David Bowie and Prince with a splash of classic Lady Gaga thrown in for good measure. That vibe is sort of sufficient to make you perceive why Ariel’s cohort can’t maintain from fanning out in his presence.
But that spell is tough for Opus to take care of as its story begins dropping predictable twists which might be telegraphed from greater than a mile away. Despite its promising begin, Opus finally ends up feeling extra involved with type than substance and prefer it doesn’t precisely know which of its factors — lots of that are stable — it needs to go away you enthusiastic about. It’s particularly disappointing as a result of it’s simple to think about the mission working extra successfully with some fine-tuning. But its banger of a soundtrack, and the sight of Malkovich in a cape twice his physique size, could be sufficient to maintain you locked in when Opus hits theaters on March 14th.
