The Greatest Songman

Given the current climate it's no surprise that cult of personality movies are coming thick and fast. Opus isn't one of the best but there is enough of interest to warrant a glance if black comedy and celebrity parody are your bag.

Ayo Edebiri plays young music journalist Ariel, desperate to write something meaningful which seams a long way away thanks to her "old fashioned" editor (Murray Bartlett), who treats her as a glorified note taker while giving all the juicy assignments to the lads. An opportunity presents itself when reclusive music genius Alfred Morreti (John Malkovich) surfaces after thirty years and she is one of the select few people invited to his compound for a weekend celebration and exclusive first listen. On the downside, her editor is also invited ("obviously I'll write the piece") and on arrival there is the small matter of Morreti clearly being involved in a cult. There are some other guests; a radio DJ, a paparazzi and Juliet Lewis as a self-important chat show host but everyone except Ariel is too enraptured by their proximity to Morreti to notice the blatantly sinister vibe on display.

There is plenty of good stuff on display here. First time director/writer (and former magazine journalist) Mark Anthony Green sets a good scene, with the desert backdrop both idyllic and eerie, and he strikes a good balance between tension and humour. The supporting cast are all good. Whether its fawning sycophants, arrogant schmoozers or creepy cultists, everyone is good value. Edebiri in the lead role is very good. Droll without being alienating she portrays Ariel as smart and ambitious, reacting to the goings on in a pretty believable way and it's her realism that holds the film together. The film is most entertaining, unsurprisingly, when Malkovich is on screen. He leans fully into the ridiculousness of his ageing pop star, preening and lapping up attention while displaying enough intelligence and humility (he calls himself a simple song man) to come across as the real deal, in terms of song writing talent at least. His legitimacy is helped by the fact that Nile Rodgers and The Dream provide original songs for the movie (Rodgers is also a producer on the film). Scenes where Ariel speaks to Morreti provide the meat and the film could have used a little more of them together.

And that's where Opus falls down a bit. There just isn't enough of anything. It touches on plenty of ideas; perception of celebrity cult vs religious cult, the nature of creativity, the impact of perspective on reporting, peoples willingness to be manipulated, but is content to point at them rather than say anything. More fundamentally, while the horror elements are there, they are fleeting and unevenly spaced. This leads to the plot feeling a little random and meandering rather than building toward a conclusion, When the climax does happen it feels a bit out of nowhere, although there is a fairly interesting sting in the tail.

Opus doesn't have the energy and urgency of something like a "Blink Twice" and is a long way short of the efficient genre thrills of the film it most closely resembles, "The Menu", but if you ignore the fact it is swimming in a pool with much bigger fish then it is still fairly entertaining. You don't get a tightly stitched plot or a deep exploration of any of the films ideas but you do get some laughs and good performances, including the full John Malkovich.

7 dry humping old pop stars out of 10

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