Film Title: Opus
Director: Mark Anthony Green
Screenwriter: Mark Anthony Green
Distribution Notes: A24 will distribute the film
Release Date (USA, Sundance): January 27th, 2025
Capone's Rating: 4⭐ out of 5⭐
Mark Anthony Green's feature debut, Opus, is quite a ride. Ayo Edibiri is perfectly cast as a young and not-overly-impressionable journalist, Ariel, hoping to cover the story of the year-the reapperance of a reclusive pop icon who's been off stage for thirty years. At first, it's clear no one in her chain of command will offer her a break, but they can't say no when she receives a personal invitation to a meet-n-greet with the famed rocker, Moretti.
At the remote location where Moretti hosts the event, John Malkovich is effervescent as the star who's rekindling the adoration of all in attendance-except for Ariel, who seems to be the only one who notices the oddities surrounding the crew of journalists hand-selected for the occasion.
In this spoiler-free review, I'll cast the rest of this film in suggestive but vague and in positive terms: This is a horror-comedy falling into the cult sub-category, and what the astute viewer will see right away as a final girl story plays off of our expectations. It's wild, though, taking turns that will surprise the most seasoned horror critic or fan. We're on this journey together and with Ariel, and Ayo Edibiri is our medium through which we'll live through Moretti's increasingly bizarre and upsetting world of sycophantic devotion.
All in all, I get the sense that, like most A24 films, audiences will either love or hate the grotesque humor splattered prodigiously throughout this movie. This horror fanboy loved it at Sundance.
Four of five stars.
