OPUS
Ayo Edebiri amid the creepy goings-on.
A reassuringly wacky John Malkovich addresses the crowd.
POP MUSIC WILL E AT ITSELF IN THIS NEW SOCIAL THRILLER
★★★
OUT 14 MARCH / CERT TBC / 103 MINS
DIRECTOR Mark Anthony Green
CAST Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Tony Hale
PLOT A young music journalist (Edebiri) visits the remote home of an enigmatic pop star (Malkovich). It soon becomes clear he has bigger plans than revealing his new album.
“YOUR PROBLEM,” one character says to Ayo Edebiri’s Ariel Ecton in an early scene of Opus, “is that you’re middle.” Alas, in a cruel irony, while Opus has some strong stuff to recommend it, it never quite rises above middle-of-the-pack. Perhaps if it had been released ten years earlier, it might have at least felt a little bit fresher, having the misfortune of following eerily similar ‘social thrillers’ like Get Out, Midsommar, The Menu, Blink Twice, Don’t Worry Darling et al. There’s some fun to be had, but the plot —an unwitting protagonist visits a cult-like retreat, only to discover satirically sinister intentions —feels a little too well-trodden.