Tag: a24

Opus (2025)

  • Director: Mark Anthony Green
  • Screenplay: Mark Anthony Green
  • Cast: Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder
  • Cinematography: Tommy Maddox-Upshaw
  • Editing: Ernie Gilbert
  • Score: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
  • Genre: Psychological thriller
  • Runtime: 104 minutes

Moretti is back. Three words spark a fire across social media.

Pop icon Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) returns after a 30 year hiatus with a new record, projected to be the ‘greatest album in history, past or future’ by his fans. They’ve obviously not listened to anything by Yoko Ono.

Music journalist Ariel (Ayo Edebiri, from ‘The Bear‘) is one of six people chosen to attend Moretti’s compound for an exclusive listen to the album. As the group enter through the gates, superfans wait outside to get a glimpse of the man himself. Everyone, bar Ariel, seems to be Moretti-mad; they’re part of a cult.

I didn’t understand the hype either – the songs (in reality created by Nile Rodgers) were forgettable and Moretti didn’t possess any presence worth fawning over. Not Malkovich’s strongest work to date. Maybe he should’ve studied Jim Jones.

This is Mark Anthony Green’s directorial debut; it’s a vivid affair; the sect members clad in blues of different shades (is the colour blue to Moretti what purple was to Prince?). The stage is set for your bog standard thriller; creepy children, a disturbing puppet show, a sense of dread pervading the air.

However, I’m not too sure what Green is trying to say with this project. Cults are bad? Okay. Is this a satire on the obsessive nature of music aficionados? If so, he could’ve made a documentary about Taylor Swift stans instead. Edebiri turns in a good performance, the score adds to the uneasiness and up-and-comer Amber Midthunder is terrifying as Ariel’s concierge, assigned to be a human shadow. If there was a deeper meaning, it got lost in the unnecessary violence.

My rating: 5 / 10

The Front Room (2024)

  • Director: Max Eggers, Sam Eggers
  • Screenwriter: Max Eggers, Sam Eggers
  • Cast: Brandy, Kathryn Hunter, Andrew Burnap, Neal Huff
  • Cinematography: Ava Berkofsky
  • Editing: Benjamin Rodriguez Jr., Eric Kissack
  • Score: Marcelo Zarvos
  • Genre: Psychological horror
  • Runtime: 95 minutes

When his father dies, Norman (Andrew Burnap) and his expectant wife Belinda (Brandy, the singer) are requested to take in his stepmother Solange as per his father’s will, if they do so they’ll benefit from her large inheritance and given that they’re in dire straits financially, they really have no choice. Solange (Kathryn Hunter) is a religious zealot that would make Mother Teresa look like a heathen. She also openly shares her entrenched racist views at the dinner table, clashing with Belinda (or ‘Belinder’ as she calls her).

So: money troubles, a baby on the way and the mother-in-law from hell…not exactly a picture-perfect marital home. Solange is incontinent (if that didn’t worsen an already awful situation) – she’s soiling herself every 5 seconds, seemingly to spite Belinda. Norman refuses to get his hands dirty (literally), always running off to work when things are messy. And Solange’s fervent religiousness has a supernatural effect on the household. Holy moly.

Brandy gives an underpowered performance – conversely, Kathryn Hunter absolutely devours the scenery as the monster-in-law, embarrassingly so (this is an actress who’s done Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre). It’s more of an unintended comedy than the ‘psychological horror’ it set out to be. There’s a million Les Dawson jokes about his mother-in-law but this movie is funnier than all of them (not saying much though). In fact, it’s the cinematic equivalent of hot garbage. Praise the lord it’s only 95 minutes long.

Why didn’t Belinda just shove the old bat down the stairs as soon as she could? It wouldn’t have been the first time Brandy had killed someone…

My rating: 3 / 10