Opus: Celebrity Worship Culture Gone Too Far

This past weekend, I did some gardening and then I went to go see my beautiful princess, my gorgeous wife, Ayo Edebiri, in Mark Anthony Green’s debut film Opus. This is his first feature length film and also first big budget film. As an A24 film starring the people’s princess and also John Malkovich, cinephiles around the globe were hyped. I was especially hyped because my ticket was free. Going into this film, I knew that it was either going to be great or horrible due to its focus on cults, which tends to be a miss for me. What surprised me was that I was perfectly indifferent to this film. It was very middle of the road. In the regards of artistic direction and acting, Opus was phenomenal, but the story seemed a little underdeveloped.

The best thing about this film is that it looks phenomenal. I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is what Companion should have been: beautiful, but slightly off-putting. All the locations were so realistic and perfectly fit the film: the office being modern and the town being an elevated version of the classic Spanish architecture commonly found in rich desert towns, such as Palm Springs. This gives the film a sense of realism while still planting the idea that the people we’re focusing on are upper class through the trendy and modern furniture, floorplans, and buildings. The cinematography and color grading add to this theme. The composition of each shot makes the surroundings look grand and the people look small. This is supported by the color grading. One of the first things I noticed was how rich the blues and oranges are. The colors are symbolism for something, I’m sure, but I need a little more time to cook on that one. Symbolic or not, the colors made the film more aesthetically pleasing.

The other great part about this film was the performances. Our beautiful princess did a fantastic job. At the beginning, you get the sense that this performance is going to be like most of her others: an awkward, but relatable, girl who is ambitious. And she is. But in the second half, we get to see Edebiri in a different light. Edebiri’s performance turns into that of a confident “final girl,” allowing us to see a new side of her. Her performance is only rivaled by Malkovich, who effortlessly plays a charismatic bisexual cult leader. Malkovich’s role as a bisexual pop icon turned evil cult leader was such an entertaining part of this film that I couldn’t imagine anyone else in his role.

Now we get into the bad parts. There are almost too many to talk about, but the most glaring issue with this film is the plot itself. While a good idea, I feel as though what was really interesting or unique about this film wasn’t explored, which is most glaringly obvious with the Levelists, the cult that the film focuses on. All we know is that they cut themselves harvesting pearls, they worship Moretti (Malkovich’s character), and they kill people sometimes. Beyond that, we don’t get to fully understand them. What intrigued me was the potential class system present in the religion. This is explored through the scene where they pass around one loaf of bread and take a bite, where the people who get the bread last have all of the first people’s saliva all over it and also don’t get as much of the bread. That’s never really explored again. And yes, it could’ve been the point to be mysterious and alluring so we never could understand, but it didn’t seem purposeful. I think the writer tried to explain it, but didn’t do so properly, or they were just being messy or something. I really don’t know. But it makes me wonder what is so wrong with the Levelists? From what I got from the film, it just seems like they are just a rip off of our current class system and societal interests, but with an emphasis on the arts instead of STEM, which doesn’t seem like the worst or most harmful society. I imagine with a little more time developing the film, the ideas would’ve been conveyed clearly, but as it is now it’s not clear what the Levelists were all about which detracts from what the film is trying to say.

This film is about the media's obsession with celebrity, but doesn’t fully explore the effects of that on the celebrity. We get a little bit of that with the children’s puppet show towards the end and again in the interview with Moretti at the very end, but that’s it. I wish it was woven in throughout the film or tied in with the Levelists somehow. I don’t quite know how to do that though because I don’t know enough about the Levelists since not enough explanation was given within the film. Fundamentally, I agree that the media, especially tabloids, has too great an impact and insight into celebrities' lives. Because we don’t know enough about the Levelists, who are central to the film, we cannot fully understand what this film is specifically trying to say.

All of that being said, the film was entertaining, although not fulfilling. I would watch it again when I don’t really want to turn my brain on and get in a couple scares. I gave it 3 stars on Letterboxd, which is actually the exact average rating. I am culture. I am society. Amen. I also agree with many of the reviews such as “Oh, hey, it’s Blink Twice! I mean, The Menu. I mean, Midsommar. I mean, Don’t worry Darling. I mean, Get Out. I mean-” (Letterboxd user Josh) and “opus more like poopus” (Letterboxd user jer *bag emoji*). I agree with both of these, but again, I don’t think this should be the focus. I think that we should have less of a conversation on what films were like this one and more about how to make a film with such clear inspirations step outside of the shadow of those inspirations and find what makes it unique. That being said, I do recommend you go see Opus and decide for yourself if it’s a shallow copy of films we’ve seen before or something entirely new. 

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