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Inde Navarrette just gave a star-making performance in Obsession (🌟🌟🌟🌟). My head is spinning. Who? What? How? That was some of the best acting I’ve seen all year. That was one of the best films I’ve seen all year. I have no idea where this movie or these performances came from, but I’m stunned. Stupefied. In utter disbelief. What a fucking film. Writer-director Curry Barker blew my doors off & just demonstrated what horror films are all about. Shame on you- literal, actual shame- if you do not see this film in theaters.
As I’ve said throughout countless reviews over the years, the simpler the story, the better. If you can explain a film’s plot in one or two sentences to a friend at a bar, the probability of that film succeeding instantly increases. Obsession is proof & the story here is extremely intelligent yet so easy to describe. Bear (Michael Johnston) is a twenty-something average-Joe who has romantic feelings for his close friend & co-worker Nikki (Navarrette). The idea here is Bear stumbles upon a gift shop, buys a novelty toy called a “One Wish Willow” and wishes for Nikki to “love him more than anyone in the world.” That’s it. That’s all you need to know. Actually, that’s all you should know going into this film.
The brilliance of the story isn’t just the way in which Nikki unravels & morphs into a helpless, demonic creature in total pursuit of Bear, it’s the metaphor for co-dependency that this story stands for that ultimately hammers home such a powerful point. Nikki is left with zero control over her free will or even her physical movement & that’s all at the behest of Bear’s selfish wish. It’s not just that the entertainment value here is high, the story is also strikingly thoughtful. What’s more is that the story is exceptionally unpredictable, which I believe is an essential component to any good horror film. Obsession doesn’t just satisfy the unpredictability rule- it smashes the unpredictability aspect out of the park. Never once was I in full control of this story.
Much has been made about 26 year old writer-director Curry Barker’s pursuit of this film. He made this for around $750,000 but this film’s box office is trending to the Moon. I think all of that is worth mentioning in this review because Barker just illustrated to every last studio that actually, you don’t need a massive budget to create something special. And actually, you don’t need AI to cut costs & save money. What you need is an enthusiastic artist with a vision who knows the story he’s trying to tell. That’s Barker with this film. All of Hollywood could learn from what Barker just achieved.
But I have to return to Navarrette’s performance- it’s what stood out the most & it’s what I will remember the most. Her physical & emotional range was like a hurricane. She was so deceptive yet manipulating- despite her character having no control. Her line-delivery throughout the film was outstanding & her voice commanded the theater. I walked out of this film thinking to myself “a star is born”. Not only Navarrette, the entire young cast here is excellent & totally relatable. I felt like I personally knew the core actors in this film- everyone carried their role well. But no one better than Navarrette.
Obsession is an immediate horror classic.
English
