Shadows on the Wall

Opus

dir-scr Mark Anthony Green
prd Josh Bachove, Collin Creighton, Mark Anthony Green, Poppy Hanks
with Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Tony Hale, Peter Diseth, Melissa Chambers, Stephanie Suganami, Mark Sivertsen, Tatanka Means, Aspen Martinez
release US/UK 14.Mar.25
25/US A24 1h43

SUNDANCE FILM FEST

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Smart enough to hold the interest, this dramatic horror film spins an enjoyably sinister tale that's neither scary nor surprising, even as things get nasty. But the actors add interest, bringing underwritten characters to life. And the film is skilfully shot and edited, with a wonderfully jarring musical score. This allows writer-director Mark Anthony Green to gleefully play up both the grisliness and the more offbeat underlying themes.

Rising star journalist Ariel (Edebiri) is invited alongside editor Stan (Bartlett) and a group of jaded hacks, including the florid Clara (Lewis), to the Utah enclave of reclusive popstar Alfred (Malkovich), so they can listen his first music in 30 years. But this ranch feels like a creepy religious cult, populated by hundreds of so-called "Levellers". What they're up to is anyone's guess, although it becomes very clear that these guests aren't remotely safe. Indeed, various luxuries turn out to be hideously fatal. The question is whether any of them will get out alive.

Oddly, none of this generates suspense, mainly because the characters are so sketchy. Each is a movie type, with Ariel as the plucky protagonist whose fate is never in doubt. Still, Edebiri provides wonderfully offhanded layers as an observant young woman unwilling to simply sit quietly as expected. Likeable and witty, she also gets the best lines, even with Malkovich ruthlessly stealing the show with his hilariously imperious performance as a legend who loves to play up his own myth.

Others struggle to register. The always watchable Lewis and Bartlett show flashes of genius in these grandstanding people who are riding on the fumes of their glory days. But the script gives them little to do, and the editing leaves them in the margins. Others are even more simplistically defined, including guests, staff and residents of this bizarre community. So it's difficult to get a sense of what the Levellers are about, aside from wishy-washy comments about art that don't quite jibe with the violence.

In other words, there isn't much to this film, even as it is packed with entertaining touches that keep us watching. While the narrative is witty and enjoyably snaky, it is deeply predictable, because everything feels borrowed from a wide range of other movies, from The Master to The Menu. But even if the script doesn't say much, it's always fun to watch a movie poke merciless fun at celebrity, religion, pretentious artists and, yes, critics.

themes, language, violence 10.Mar.25

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