Opus desperately desires to be part of the second. It has the look: the arduous strains and scientific huge photographs – Stanley Kubrick as a viral aesthetic – which have dominated high-concept horror of late, particularly any fellow productions acquired by distributor A24. It’s how final month’s Companion was styled, and Zoë Kravitz’s Blink Twice earlier than it. It has the star: Ayo Edebiri, whose relatable nonchalance on the comedy-drama collection The Bear and goofy, but sardonic humour off digital camera have made her one of many hottest rising stars of late. And it has the “salient themes”: superstar worship, the media, the rise in cult-like behaviours. However that is all superficial stuff. There’s not a lot about Opus, actually, that totally convinces.
Edebiri, with that very same relatable nonchalance, performs Ariel, an neglected Gen Z author at a music journal, whose concepts are appropriated by her editor Stan (The Final of Us and The White Lotus’s Murray Bartlett), and handed off to white, male writers. Alternative knocks when she unexpectedly receives an invitation, alongside Stan, to the distant compound of pop star Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), the “Wizard of Wiggle” who delivered a string of No 1 singles within the earlier century after which virtually evaporated off the face of the planet.
He’s again now, with what his publicist (Tony Hale) guarantees will likely be “the best album of contemporary occasions”, Caesar’s Request. It’s set to debut at an unique listening social gathering attended by Ariel, Stan, discuss present host Clara (Juliette Lewis), influencer Emily (Stephanie Suganami), paparazzo Bianca (Melissa Chambers), and Moretti’s former pal Invoice (Mark Sivertsen) – and, additionally, the complete inhabitants of his compound, blue robed-zealots who name themselves Levelists, shuck oysters for pearls, and take bites out of the identical loaf of bread at dinnertime.
Opus could be the debut function of former GQ author Mark Anthony Inexperienced, however his experiences within the discipline present a irritating lack of perception. Nobody notably must be advised that superstar fandoms and real-deal cults exist mere inches aside, or that the connection between media and energy is considered one of adulation in return for entry.
There’s a sliver of promise with regards to Ariel herself, in the end a wannabe set on private fame, whose closest buddy (Younger Mazino) calls her “center as f**ok” as a result of she’s by no means skilled poverty, habit, or heartbreak. She swears by authenticity and journalistic rigour, but what does it say when she turns as much as the compound dressed precisely like her weaselly editor?
That stage of interrogation is swiftly tossed apart for routine pictures of cult quirks, from the mysterious tent in the midst of a discipline, to the demand that Ariel has her nether areas groomed to a particular commonplace – there, seemingly, to guarantee audiences that the Levelists are simply as spiritually and sexually fanatical because the creeps in Midsommar (2019) or Eyes Broad Shut (1999). Amber Midthunder’s cultist character Belle, in the meantime, hews uncomfortably near the racist stereotype of the mute however ferocious Indigenous lady.
Malkovich, actually, could make a meal out of Moretti’s vainness, within the theatrical twirl of his jewel-coloured sarongs or the peculiar, unplaceable patter of speech that appears to solely manifest in those that have devoted their lives to artwork. However Inexperienced fails to pin down what this performative eccentric, past his thundering tunes about intercourse and luxurious (written by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream), presents his devoted listeners. An escape? An id? A promise? Opus presents no revelation.
Dir: Mark Anthony Inexperienced. Starring: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami, Younger Mazino, Tatanka Means. 15, 104 minutes.
‘Opus’ is in cinemas from 14 March
