Opus

I went to a Cineworld Unlimited card holders preview of "Opus" earlier this week. I can see why it hasn't been well reviewed, but I have to admit that I rather enjoyed it.

After three decades out of public life, Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), the biggest popstar of the 90's announces a new album and invites several selected journalists and influencers to his compound, for a weekend listening party. Included in the group is Ariel (Aye Edebiri) an inexperienced journalist at a culture magazine. As the group arrive, they discover that Moretti's compound is home to a number of passionate followers, though only Ariel seems to be concerned by the unsettling vibe of the place.

As I say, I can understand the complaints that people have had. I don't think it explores the things it's talking about very well. There are nods to celebrity indulgence and cult experiences. Thinly veiled jibes at scientology and at how magazine journalism works. But nods is all they are. Once the secrets of the film start to spill out, it briefly becomes a relatively standard horror film and then ends with a hint of a twist. This section is perhaps where the film is it's most basic and it's reasonably dull at this point.

I preferred it a lot more in the first half, where the film reminded me a lot of "Midsommar". An isolated environment where the existing group may, or may not, have malevolent intent towards the confused guests. Malkovich is having a ball as Moretti and whilst I never quite bought that the music would be "world altering pop" it's pitched as - I did at least think that the Nile Rodgers provided jams were good.

I think that there's not enough here to recommend that you head out to the cinema to see the film, but in the more forgiving world of home viewing, it'll find its fans.

What starts as a tense, creepy, something's-off-here cult movie ends as a confusing mess with little to no payoff.

The acting by the leads (Edebiri, Malkovich, Bartlett) was superb, whereas the other characters were all lacking depth, boring, and filler for the sake of what this movie considers to be "plot." Edebiri, as always, is fantastic at her craft, able to express so many emotions in her facial expressions, eye movements, and tone of voice. Malkovich is wonderful and plays the icon of Moretti perfectly. Bartlett plays a lovable asshole who you would never want as your boss, and he's damn good at the role.

A lot of the odd elements in this movie felt like things the writers threw in for the sake of making the movie feel more eerie and unsettling while simultaneously never offering any explanation or reason as to why they were included.

The first act felt a little long, act two ramped up way too fast and increased the stakes way too soon, and act three was a mess that had no pacing direction whatsoever. The very middle of act two felt like what should have been the midway point of act three, so when act three starts everything feels rushed to try and catch up with the feelings evoked already in the previous act.

What I watched was a hodgepodge of ideas with a half-baked story poorly attempting to tie it all together. It's as if someone mashed together Jonestown, pop icons David Bowie and Prince, Midsommar, and Get Out into a giant nothing burger. Really disappointed in this, though I still feel like it's worth seeing once just to feel the weight of certain scenes that were actually executed great. Even the cinematography was stunning, but the plot was a turd painted gold. 5.5/10.

I'm baffled by the overly negative comments offered. This might not be a masterpiece, but it's a very satisfying movie that is not boring to watch. John Malkovitch is spot on as a superstar musician trying a comeback while ensnared in a divergent universe. And choosing Ayo Edebiri as the young ambitious journalist, as spontaneous and skin-deep as Malkovitch's charachter is superficial and cunning, provides a perfect alchemy on screen. We are dealing here with a new generation of horror flicks, the one Jordan Peele gave the patron of with Us. An horror without monsters or serial killers beyond our own selves, our neighbours, or be it our idols. A whole generation of genre films will need to own up to Us, it won't be easy. But that's not a reason to ignore them unilaterally. Opus is a good movie, brilliantly acted, which offers well balanced uneasiness and anguish, adding fringe black humour to the lot regarding the cult op personality and its complacent medias. It would be a shame to go without it because gore and bodies do not occupy most of screen time.

If Midsommar threw on a pair of jeans and played an electric guitar, you'd have Opus.

There's no denying the film's atmosphere-equal parts fever dream and surreal art installation-but the premise felt oddly familiar. A strange cult? Check. Ominous followers watching every move? Check. Friends disappearing without explanation? Also check. It's hard not to feel like Ari Aster already laid the groundwork here, and did it with more finesse.

That said, John Malkovich delivers a predictably mesmerizing performance as the enigmatic cult leader, giving the film much of its weight. The visuals, music, and costume design add layers of intrigue, even if they occasionally veer into style-over-substance territory.

Unfortunately, the ending felt rushed and, at times, too far-fetched to land with impact. It's a film that reaches for depth but doesn't quite dig far enough.

Opus isn't without merit-but if you've already followed Aster into the woods, this journey may feel more like déjà vu than discovery.

A common theme throughout most of the critic and amateur reviews of Opus is that, "we've seen this before." The premise - an unassuming person enters a secretive compound/community that hides nefarious things - is pretty well trodden ground. The structure, where, just by the trailers you can tell it'll be mystery upon mystery until it all comes together in the end, feels tired.

Opus does make an attempt to set itself apart; it's firmly about celebrity worship and the way some can easily excuse a person's objectively bad behaviour because they've made songs or movies we enjoy (we're all guilty of this). The film's music, especially the songs by fictional pop star Moretti (John Malkovich) is pretty good. (He's kind of like Depeche Mode meets the Weeknd) I find it's hard to nail a real world sound for fictional music stars, but they knocked it out of the part with the imitation.

I also really liked the world-building. This cult is committed to an ideology called "Levelism" that feels kooky, yet fully fleshed out (and let's be real, not that dissimilar from the ideas of people like Peter Thiel or Curtis Yarvin).

It's also a really well shot film, with some impressive camera work and stunning visuals; the lighting is great, as are a lot of the costumes, sets, and makeup effects. One scene in particular - with undoubtedly the film's best and frankly, nastiest, kill - made my skin crawl. You'll know it when you see it.

That being said, Opus never quite hits the level of films like Get Out, Midsommar, The Menu, or The Invitation. For one, as lovable as Ayo Debiri is, she's basically playing the same character she always plays; brimming with nervous awkwardness. Her character is boring and essentially an empty vessel, lacking interiority. (And yes, I know this is on purpose. No, it doesn't make the movie better)

I also wasn't blown away by John Malkovich either; he actually felt very miscast to me. He didn't have the gravitas or energy for a role like this to truly work.

The film has bold ideas, but the script feels inefficient. It doesn't drive its points home, its characters feel underwritten, and I feel like the need to make everything "creepy" - as per subgenre conventions - took away from the point of the story. We're not supposed to come into the compound feeling uneasy, it's should feel like a kid getting invited to the Chocolate Factory, but it doesn't.

Opus is feels like someone offering you another appetizer after you've finished a dinner. Even if it's good, you don't REALLY want to eat it. Maybe with a bit of time, you can appreciate it later at home, but it won't be as good as it would've been, had you had it earlier.