2025, R, 103 min. Directed by Mark Anthony Green. Starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami, Young Mazino.
When will lead movie characters learn that it might be safer to turn down the coveted invitation to visit the remote private estates of megastars and the ultra-rich? The warning is blared in such recent movies such as Midsommar and Blink Twice, and IRL news stories like Jeffrey Epstein's private-island getaways.
Over and over again, the temptation proves too much. That's the case when the Nineties mono-named pop star Moretti (Malkovich) is ready to release his first album of new music in nearly 30 years. The longtime recluse has burrowed for the last decades in his private compound tucked away in the remote Utah desert. A handful of invitations are sent out and in addition to a few old running buddies and members of the press, an invite is received by Ariel Ecton (The Bear Emmy winner Edebiri), a frustrated junior staffer at a Rolling Stone-like magazine. Ariel's boss Stan Sullivan (Bartlett) also receives an invite, which makes sense since he was an old pal of Moretti's, but no one really questions why underling Ariel has been selected to join this elite group.
Soon after arrival, the cultish attributes of the compound's residents and their practices are felt. The visitors' cellphones and laptops are collected, each is assigned a personal concierge (workers who seem more like insidious spies than helpful facilitators), strange group eating habits, and gift baskets containing the book Meditations of Level. All the compound's inhabitants are Levelists, an ambiguous religion/practice/belief system that is never fully explained. Joining Stan and Ariel, the other invitees include former groupie/current gossip queen Clara (Lewis), a popular influencer (Suganami), paparazzo Bianca (Chambers), and Moretti's former best pal Bill (Sivertsen). While the guests revel in their status in being invited to the superstar's private listening party and weekend retreat, none of them wonder why they are the only few media representatives invited. Soon enough, the slings and arrows (literally) of an outraged critic start firing in their direction.
Opus is an attack on media mouthpieces and mindless sycophants, but its barbs only scratch the surface before the inevitable mayhem takes over. First-time writer/director Mark Anthony Green, a former style columnist for GQ, has a good feel for the media landscape, but his storytelling needs more definition. Too many scenes need greater exposition and more precise aim. The film's closing sequence is somewhat baffling, as well. Most prominently, the film needs much better music in order for us to believe that Moretti is a musical god revered the world over. (The film's music is by the legendary Nile Rodgers and The-Dream, who are also credited as producers.) Malkovich does his own singing and pelvis-thrusting and carries on in his inscrutable Malkovich way, while Edebiri holds her own in the lead role. The fabulous costumes (by Shirley Kurata) and Malkovich's diverting turn will be the reasons for checking into this mysterious retreat. However, I bet that there's already another group of movie characters waiting in the wings to fly away to the next ill-advised excursion.