Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend the world premiere of Opus at the Sundance Film Festival. I arrived at the premiere over an hour early and still ended up halfway down a line that wrapped around the building. Opus was by far the most anticipated screening of the festival- and the biggest disappointment.
Opus had built buzz in the preceding weeks, when A24 released its first trailer to millions of viewers. At the premiere, when A24’s logo appeared on screen, the audience broke into applause. Unfortunately, by the end of the screening, the energy in the theatre had shifted. Opus had built anticipation just by way of its production company, but with an unoriginal concept and weak screenplay, it failed to deliver.
Opus follows Ariel Ecton (Ayo Edebiri), a young journalist who is tired of being overlooked by her editor, Stan (Murray Bartlett). Her chance at a big break arrives when eccentric popstar Alfred Moretti — part-Elvis, part-Elton John — leaves retirement after 30 years off the grid and invites her to his compound. It quickly becomes apparent that Moretti, played by John Malkovich, is running a cult, and as members of Ariel’s group begin to disappear, she finds herself fighting for survival. If this reminds you of every other thriller to come out in the past five years, you’re not alone.
Opus relies on tired tropes to tell a story that can be found in any other recent thriller movie trying to replicate the success of Ari Aster’s Midsommar. Opus is a well-directed film that is highly competent on the technical level but is held back by a screenplay that rehashes the same plot points as films like The Menu and Blink Twice. The film has some beautiful shots and great performances, especially Ayo Edebiri’s, which only makes its unoriginal screenplay all the more disappointing. As the film progresses, Ariel investigates the cult’s strange rituals — like religiously shucking oysters for hours — but these events never seem to have real significance. It’s as if the film included any scene they could think of that might be seen as creepy or off-putting, without caring about any overarching theme. The film continues to hit every beat one would expect, with group members disappearing one-by-one, until Edebiri’s Ariel, the “final girl,” attempts her escape. At no point does Opus veer from convention, making it one of the most uninteresting films I’ve seen all year.
Writer-director Mark Anthony Green is clearly trying to explore the cult of personality that surrounds figures like Alfred Moretti. Other journalists and influences make up the rest of the compound’s visitors, most of whom have been attending Moretti’s listening parties for decades. Even as members of the group disappear, their adoration for Moretti keeps them from suspecting him of dark intentions. To the audience, Malkovich’s Moretti is immediately off-putting, but his years in the spotlight have made him into a legend. None of these observations tread new ground and have been explored in other, infinitely more interesting films- including fellow Sundance premiere Lurker, which will be released by Mubi later this year. Green’s interest in exploring fandom seems to be limited to simply stating that celebrity idolization is dangerous — and going no further.
Unintentionally, Opus has created a much more interesting conversation about the cult-like following that A24 itself has amassed. Since 2012, A24 has secured itself as a staple in the independent film industry and has grown into a brand with its own fanbase, not dedicated to any one filmmaker but to anything A24 puts out. I’m brought back to Sundance and the cheers throughout the audience when the A24 logo flashed across the screen — and then the uncomfortable energy of disappointment when the credits rolled. Audiences have come to associate A24 with quality filmmaking and find it difficult to reckon with when a movie doesn’t meet expectations. Opus is fairly unsuccessful in its attempts to explore the dangers of cult-like fandom, but perhaps it may allow audience members to reflect on their own relationships with brands like A24.
Nicholas York is a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He can be reached at nay22@cornell.edu.
