Mark Anthony Green takes his audiences to a world where an icon has secrets. Opus revolves around a daring subject matter that correlates to some of the conflicts with artists today, similar to the many controversies surrounding Sean Diddy. Opus is a fictional approach to these topics; however, it has that cult aspect tied into the film extremely well. The navigation of getting a story into a world darker than one anticipates is a daring journey in Opus. The dark personality is shown through the eyes of Alfred Moretti, and he is played by John Malkovich. The calm aura of Malkovich’s performance is what makes Opusmore anxiety-provoking than audiences realize.

The film begins with a journalist named Ariel Ecton (played by Ayo Edebiri). She gets assigned to cover Moretti. It is a big story because he has been off the face of the Earth for ages. This is a massive opportunity for Ariel; however, it is one that goes much deeper than she assumes. She travels with her colleague, Clara Armstrong (played by Juliette Lewis) and her superior, Stan Sullivan (played by Murray Bartlett).  When they arrive at Moretti’s home there is already a bizarre setup—one that looks to have orders and rituals that all have glaring red flags attached.With his home being off the beaten path, there are bound to be a lot of mixed signals in Opus.

The notion of a journalist trying to get the real portrait of who an artist is keeps going underground, as in the pattern keeps evolving to be questionable and loses a sense of normalcy in Opus. The result is plenty of strangeness to the core. Somehow it exceeds its surrealness in the characterization as Malkovich portraying an emperor artist with an egotistical nature. Edebiri captures the elements of what makes one iconic and the true answers are of a disturbing nature. It is like a world where an icon has a level of fame like Michael Jackson and then introduces his own version of Neverland Ranch. The difference here is that it is more like an Eyes Wide Shut type dynamic. 

Opus carries a massive weight, because it challenges a fictional scenario that is based off events going on today with artists–especially when it comes to extreme behavior. The portrait it paints leaves the audience curious as to how one would feel if they were on the same journey as these journalists. The curious and surprising thing is that the shock values will have more humorous factors over horrid factors.

With the performance of Edebiri, I felt she is the hero of this awkward premise. Especially as she is trying to get her feet wet while attempting to capture stories that grasp the world. Her performance leaves a track of the risks that come with writing about the truth. The truth of Moretti is one-of-a-kind. Opuskeeps the momentum high as it swerves in motions of uncertainty as the journalist tests the waters to get the real story in this film. It delivers its risk-taking attitude with many punches that are more to bear than anything.  Cheesy, but vibrant with intense excellence in the persona of Malkovich. Three out of four stars for Opus.