Opus is a truly creepy movie.
It follows Ariel, a young and perhaps boring journalist, as she somehow gets the scoop of her life: She’s been invited to listen to the new album of the most famous pop-music artist of the 1990s—a man who has been a recluse for years.
Amazing, she’s thinking. This guy is famous as all heck, and so what I write will finally get me some recognition!
Sure. But first, Ariel needs to contend with the jam-packed schedule. And each innocuously-named event turns out stranger than the next.
The writing is strong here, moving us from observation to double-take to concern to fear to terror. It captures well that sort of eccentric, borderline charm that certain people can have; how they can tell stories/make music that surprises us and yet resonates with something deep inside.
Surprisingly—and wonderfully—the music in this one lives up to the hype it has generated in its fictional world. So catchy and fun. Other technicals, too, like the location scouting and production design and costuming, place us smack into this scenario right along with Ariel.
The best part of this movie is the writing, though. This is creepy because every word, every pause, every motivation is believable. So well done.