Mark Anthony Green is the writer-director of a dark, dippy and flamboyant tale about the seductions of fame and the famous. Moretti, a legendary glam-rock figure from the 90s, announces that after many years of reclusiveness, he is releasing a new album.
He invites an entourage of decadent media characters to his home. Also on hand is one novice, ambitious writer Ariel (played by Ayo Edebiri).
Moretti’s compound/colony is located somewhere in the Southwest. (Locals take note; the only clue is you take a four-hour bus ride from an airfield at Green River, Utah.)
On arrival, the guests have their cellphones and laptops confiscated, are placed in rooms with camera surveillance, and are assigned a “concierge” constantly at their elbow. Mysterious disappearances and accidents occur. Then things get weird.
John Malkovich is everybody’s wish-casting choice to play Moretti, and he appears to be having a hoot, with a creepy-dad vibe that reminds me of Heaven’s Gate leader Marshall Applewhite. Moretti is in part a lordly, calm guru, and partly a showman spouting anecdotes, poetry and music. (We’re told Malkovich did his own singing.)
Ebiri holds her own with Malkovich, as the only visitor who eventually has the nerve to say something’s not right. But is she getting manipulated too?
The movie includes some of the carnage you expect from the Midnight Program. But also on hand is a gaudy rock and roll number, and a well-constructed fake religion called Levelism.
On the KPCW sun rating system, "Opus" receives four and a half out of five suns.
