So here’s the synopsis of Opus from A24:
A young writer (Ayo Edebiri) is invited to the remote compound of a legendary pop star (John Malkovich) who mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. Surrounded by the star’s cult of sycophants and intoxicated journalists, she finds herself in the middle of his twisted plan.
Ayo Edebiri plays Ariel Ecton, the young writer at the center of the story that starts with her working at a publication and constantly getting overlooked by her boss Stan (Murray Bartlett) who also belittles her and takes her ideas all through the guise of his experience and knowing how things work. Moretti (Malkovich), a wildly popular pop artist who hasn’t released an album in thirty years, sends packages to select journalists inviting them to special listening session at his compound.
The surprise is that Ariel gets one along with Stan. Once there, Ariel met the other people who were invited: a big-time podcaster, an influencer, a member of the paparazzi, and a TV host. The TV host Clara Armstrong is played by Juliette Lewis, who has a history with Stan. For the most part, we have Stan treating Ariel like an assistant and being overlooked by her “peers,” who seem to end up getting more access to Moretti and his cult-like followers.
This film by Mark Anthony Green starts out like some of those other weird, quirky A24 films yet turns to horror quickly. It’s fun seeing Ayo get to be a final girl of sorts with a nice twist on the dynamic. The film isn’t that deep or has a big twist on genres, but I did enjoy it. I liked how it takes the framework of the big journalistic feature of a beloved genius artist and pushes it to its extreme point. The first thing that popped into my head when this started was Kanye in his Wyonming phase in 2017 through to that Sunday Service phase. There are other analogous folks to this, but this was on the top of my mind, especially by the end, with some of the themes connected with some of that type of modern celebrity and celebration of commercial creative genius. Amber Midthunder plays Belle, one of Moretti’s followers, tasked with being Ariel’s concierge during the trip. Midthunder plays her so quietly and ominously in how she is this film’s heavy, scary presence. Edebiri and Midthunder play well off each other with some genuinely funny moments and some great tense ones.
Most of the other press characters are forgettable, with Malkovich being a delight with his wise, weird, and obnoxious performance all at the same time. His singing is what surprised me the most of all – he was actually quite decent. Moretti does fall into someone you’d expect Batman to be fighting in the end, but it’s a joy to watch. Another surprise I saw in the opening credits was Nile Rodgers and The-Dream handling the music in this film, and I must say they made some slaps. There were times when I was paying more attention to the song production than what was happening in the story. You can hear elements of both of their styles mix together. While good, they do feel a bit like unfinished thoughts, but they are ones that make you want to hear more. It adds to the believability of the people enjoying the music.
As I’ve seen some reviews of this come out before I finished mine, I noticed that many are not that positive about this film. I usually find enough interesting and enjoyable from the filmmaking that I was entertained, with Ayo’s performance being captivating and entertaining in the end with the right amount of humor and suspense. I think Opus does ask a question about competing ideas for society and tribalism centered around charismatic geniuses made by our society’s marketing. Does it answer this question – no, and I don’t think it can, but for me, it did ask it in a fun way that hopefully gets some talking. Toxic Fandom plus politics is a wild mix, ain’t it?
Score: B
