‘Opus’ Review
Stars: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Melissa Chambers, Tony Hale, Stephanie Suganami, Mark Sivertsen, Tatanka Means, Aspen Martinez, Peter Diseth, Tamera Tomakili | Written and Directed by Mark Anthony Green
The debut feature of writer/director Mark Anthony Green, Opus is a blackly satirical horror that takes some well-aimed stabs at the current state of print journalism and celebrity worship, as well as various other targets. It’s not entirely successful, but it’s entertaining enough, largely thanks to the presence of Ayo Edeberi and John Malkovich in the lead roles.
Edeberi plays Ariel Ecton, a late-twenties journalist who feels like she’s stagnating at her job on a popular music magazine (think Rolling Stone, though the writer-director previously worked for GQ), not least because her ideas for features keep getting assigned to more experienced journalists. That changes when she receives a personal invite to the listening party for a new album by reclusive music genius Alfred Moretti (Malkovich), who hasn’t been seen in public for 30 years.
Along with her super-smug editor Stan (Murray Bartlett) and a number of other specially chosen guests – including influencer Emily (Stephanie Suganami), TV host Clara (Juliette Lewis), veteran paparazzo Bianca (Melissa Chambers) and podcaster Bill (Mark Sivertsen) – Ariel travels to Moretti’s remote desert compound, where it quickly becomes clear he’s the leader of some sort of cult. But is it all eccentric nonsense, or does the succession of red flags mean that the guests are actually in great danger?
Green must have been over the moon when Malkovich signed on to this because his casting is nothing short of inspired, not least because it feels like Malkovich himself has been out of the public eye – at least in terms of deliciously over-the-top big-screen roles – almost as long as Moretti. On top of that, he is clearly enjoying himself, and his delightfully insane performance is the main reason to see Opus.
Ayo Edeberi is equally good, putting her established screen persona (deadpan, sharp-witted, observational, low-key bemused) to strong use. As such, she’s a consistent joy to watch, even if the script doesn’t really give her enough to do. (In fairness, her facial reaction work is so good, she barely needs dialogue). There’s also strong support from Amber Midthunder (as Ariel’s “assigned concierge”) and Bartlett is good value as a very recognisable annoying boss type, though Juliette Lewis is bafflingly underused as Clara, to the point where you suspect a lot of her performance ended up on the cutting room floor.
The main problem is that Opus is a film of two halves and the first half is significantly more entertaining than the second. The set-up is great, the various satirical swipes mostly find their targets and the escalating weirdness/uneasiness is a lot of fun.
However, once the horror-related aspects kick in, the film becomes a lot less effective. There’s never any real sense of terror or threat, and the film doesn’t even manage to deliver on its basic slasher premise of all the obnoxious guests meeting grisly ends. Similarly, the ending raises more questions than it answers.
Still, at least the filmmakers put the effort in when it comes to making Malkovich’s character look like a musical genius, thanks to some specially commissioned tracks by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream that just about convince. This is a common problem when films have to convince the audience of a character’s acclaimed artistic genius and they more or less get away with it here.
In short, Opus is something of a mixed bag. It’s ultimately much more fun as a satirical comedy than it is as a horror, but it remains enjoyable throughout thanks to the terrific work by Malkovich and Edeberi.
*** 3/5
Opus is out now.
