Opus, A24’s new horror-tinged thriller from writer / director Mark Anthony Green, has a lot to say about the symbiotic (and sometimes parasitic) relationship between entertainment journalists and celebrities. In the film’s story about reporters tripping over themselves just to be close to an eccentric music icon, you can feel Green reflecting on how the media landscape has changed with the rise of modern Content™ empires built on parasocial relationships. Many of Opus’ ideas are right on the money, and the film is so stylish that it’s easy to get swept up in its visual splendor. But aside from its excellent original songs, the movie often feels like a flimsy rehash of glam-forward features that have come before it.
Though Opus is fictional, Green — a former style editor at GQ — has clearly poured a lot of his personal experiences into overworked, under-appreciated music journalist Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri). Conceptually, Ariel loves her job covering pop culture and the way it gives her opportunities to dig deep into the lives of well-known artists. But she also knows that no matter how strong her pitches are, her obnoxiously self-involved editor Stan (Murray Bartlett) won’t think twice about shooting them down, passing them off to someone else, or simply taking them for himself.
Like everyone else in the world who knows “Dina, Simone” by heart, Ariel can’t help but feel a little excited when she catches wind that reclusive superstar Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) is gearing up to release new music for the first time in decades. When Moretti’s longtime manager Soledad Yusef (Tony Hale) confirms the rumors via an unhinged YouTube video, Ariel knows that someone at her publication is going to be invited to one of the legend’s customary — and very exclusive — listening parties at his remote desert compound. For obvious reasons, Ariel assumes that the assignment is going to go to Stan. But when Moretti’s invitation arrives at the office one morning, Ariel is shocked to find that it and a large gift basket full of unusual books are addressed specifically to her.
To Stan and talk show host Clara Armstrong (Juliette Lewis), Moretti’s get-togethers are excuses to schmooze and reinforce the idea that they themselves are celebrities rather than people with access to the rich and famous. For Ariel, though, the invitation feels like a long-overdue chance to finally put her talents to good use, which is why she takes it upon herself to actually read through some of the literature Moretti has sent them all as preparation for their meeting.
Especially once all of Opus’ different journalist characters are together on a bus, you can hear Green commenting on how the look and feel of the entertainment 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 — played with a bookish, determined energy by Edebiri — as a woman whose commitment to the fundamentals of journalism contrasts sharply with that of her fame-obsessed peers. Writing a genuinely compelling story about Moretti isn’t all Ariel wants. She also has aspirations of becoming renowned for her work, which feels like a beat meant to emphasize how reporters of all types have been pushed to think of and market themselves as brands. But it’s because Ariel is so dedicated to observing her subjects rather than not-so-humble bragging about being near them that she’s able to pick up on how unsettling everything about Moretti’s palatial estate is when they all first arrive.
Though Opus’ opening act is full of promise, the film gives up any pretense of subtlety as it progresses. That’s one of the bigger reasons why it starts to feel more and more like a project riding the coattails of other recent thrillers about people excitedly wandering into dangerous situations like Blink Twice, The Menu, and The Invitation. You don’t need a background in investigative journalism to pick up on how there’s something off about Moretti’s assistant Jorg (Peter Diseth), who teaches music to the many children living on the compound, or Belle (a very stony Amber Midthunder), one of the minders tasked with following the journalists around night and day.
A24
Opus leans so heavily into the weirdness around Moretti early on that it can never create any real sense of mystery or suspense. It has the side effect of making all of the reporters, aside from Ariel, seem implausibly dense to the point of near-comedy. But the film does manage to become momentarily captivating once it puts Moretti himself on screen and gives you a taste of what he’s best known for.
Though Malkovich’s quiet and sphinx-like performance as Moretti the man is good, it’s when he’s embodying the character’s on-stage rockstar persona and crooning out songs written for the movie by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream that Opus feels utterly electric. Between the excellent songs and Shirley Kurata’s impeccable costume designing, Moretti reads like an aging amalgam of David Bowie and Prince with a splash of vintage Lady Gaga thrown in for good measure. That vibe is almost enough to make you understand why Ariel’s cohort can’t keep from fanning out in his presence.
But that spell is hard for Opus to maintain as its story starts dropping predictable twists that are telegraphed from more than a mile away. Despite its promising start, Opus ends up feeling more concerned with style than substance and like it doesn’t exactly know which of its points — many of which are solid — it wants to leave you thinking about. It’s especially disappointing because it’s easy to imagine the project working more effectively with some fine-tuning. But its banger of a soundtrack, and the sight of Malkovich in a cape twice his body length, might be enough to keep you locked in when Opus hits theaters on March 14th.
