Opus, A24’s new horror-tinged thriller from author / director Mark Anthony Inexperienced, has so much to say concerning the symbiotic (and generally parasitic) relationship between leisure journalists and celebrities. Within the movie’s story about reporters tripping over themselves simply to be near an eccentric music icon, you’ll be able to really feel Inexperienced reflecting on how the media panorama has modified with the rise of recent Content material™ empires constructed on parasocial relationships. A lot of Opus’ concepts are proper on the cash, and the movie is so trendy that it’s straightforward to get swept up in its visible splendor. However other than its wonderful unique songs, the film typically appears like a flimsy rehash of glam-forward options which have come earlier than it.
Although Opus is fictional, Inexperienced — a former type editor at GQ — has clearly poured plenty of his private experiences into overworked, under-appreciated music journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri). Conceptually, Ariel loves her job masking popular culture and the best way it provides her alternatives to dig deep into the lives of well-known artists. However she additionally is aware of that regardless of how robust her pitches are, her obnoxiously self-involved editor Stan (Murray Bartlett) gained’t suppose twice about taking pictures them down, passing them off to another person, or just taking them for himself.
Like everybody else on the earth who is aware of “Dina, Simone” by coronary heart, Ariel can’t assist however really feel a bit 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. However when Moretti’s invitation arrives on the workplace one morning, Ariel is shocked to search out that it and a big present 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 they themselves are celebrities slightly than folks with entry to the wealthy and well-known. For Ariel, although, the invitation appears like a long-overdue likelihood to lastly put her skills to good use, which is why she takes it upon herself to truly learn by among the literature Moretti has despatched all of them as preparation for his or her assembly.
Particularly as soon as all of Opus’ totally different journalist characters are collectively on a bus, you’ll be able to hear Inexperienced 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 vitality 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 turning into famend for her work, which appears like a beat meant to emphasise how reporters of every type have been pushed to think of and market themselves as brands. But it surely’s as a result of Ariel is so devoted to observing her topics slightly than not-so-humble bragging about being close to them that she’s capable of decide up on how unsettling every part about Moretti’s palatial property is after they all first arrive.
Although Opus’ opening act is filled with promise, the movie provides up any pretense of subtlety because it progresses. That’s one of many larger explanation why it begins to really feel increasingly more like a undertaking 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 numerous 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.
Opus leans so closely into the weirdness round Moretti early on that it will possibly by no means create any actual sense of thriller or suspense. It has the aspect impact of constructing all the reporters, other than Ariel, appear implausibly dense to the purpose of near-comedy. However the movie does handle to develop into momentarily fascinating as soon as it places Moretti himself on display and offers you a style of what he’s finest recognized for.
Although Malkovich’s quiet and sphinx-like efficiency as Moretti the person is nice, 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 completely electrical. Between the superb songs and Shirley Kurata’s impeccable costume designing, Moretti reads like an ageing amalgam of David Bowie and Prince with a splash of classic Girl Gaga thrown in for good measure. That vibe is sort of sufficient to make you perceive why Ariel’s cohort can’t preserve from fanning out in his presence.
However that spell is tough for Opus to take care of as its story begins dropping predictable twists which are telegraphed from greater than a mile away. Regardless of 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 — a lot of that are strong — it needs to go away you eager about. It’s particularly disappointing as a result of it’s straightforward to think about the undertaking working extra successfully with some fine-tuning. However its banger of a soundtrack, and the sight of Malkovich in a cape twice his physique size, is perhaps sufficient to maintain you locked in when Opus hits theaters on March 14th.