Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Obsession 

This film is one of the most multi layered and truly thought provoking films of the year! Now I remember when this went to the festival in Toronto last year and it made its world premiere. Since then it has had a quiet release in May and has taken the Internet by storm and word of mouth has spread like wildfire in terms of this films’s success and growing popularity. Curry Baker has crafted a film that is not your traditional cookie cutter horror film it is a genre film that takes on the topic of Consent, mens view of woman in romantic ways and how they go about it when they desire them and it shown through the lens of a thriller like lens that makes for a very striking result. Obsession is a film that has such solid performances but the one specific performance everyone has taken away is the Star making performance from Inde Navarrette who gives an all timer performance in terms of leading performances from this type of genre film she blew me away and chews up each scene she is in. She is monumental and a force to be reckoned with as a whole Obsession is one of the strongest most originally compelling films of the year that is bound to be among so many people’s favourites of the year when best of lists are made in December and I can understand wide Obsession is terrific from top to bottom. 

Firstly, This film has so much to dissect and analyze that I wanna talk about. The film is yes shown through the lens of a thriller but it is at it’s core about the view on how men treat woman when it comes to their bodies and their ideology with love in the modern dating world and the toxic aspect of that. The film has you really sit with the ideas of what is being said as their are two ways people will view this story either that the girl is psychotic and the guy was within every right to tell her that her ways of being fixated on him has gone to far or you see him as the antagonist due to how he went about approaching his feelings towards her that can be viewed as incredibly problematic. The film tackles the intense passion of desire and what happens when you’re in love with the idea of what someone presents but not the person themself. The film talks on a grand scale about if he went about expressing his feelings the right way sure it may of felt like an awkward conversation but that is the healthier way to go about it. The main character we follow instead takes it upon himself to use what is essentially a spell to have her want him in a very strong way that when she does it he enjoys this fantasy he has painted in his brain for so long but once it gets “creepy” and borderline scary in his eyes he starts withdrawing from the relationship but as the viewer you are confused because isn’t that what he quite literally asked for a girl to be utterly obsessed with him? And when she becomes that very thing that he asked for it he rejects it because he enjoys her for a while yes but he never as we learn genuinely cared for who she was as a person he wanted her for what she had not for what she is on an emotional level. I do feel that is the important takeaway because so many will be yes quick to judgment and say oh no she was psychotic and he was within his right to label her as so but if you look at it from her perspective the whole concept of what he is doing is essentially non consensually getting her to have these intense feelings about him against her will so nothing is ever really her choice it is forced onto her. The film deeply delves as I have mentioned into the emotional minefield that is the face of idolizing someone for what they present at surface level but never really wanting to be with them and support them as a person. As I picked up on it he enjoyed the emotional high it gave him finally getting what he wanted yes but he could of went about it in a healthy way that benefited both parties but by doing what he did not only is he forcing her against her will it is an entirely selfish act on his part that says more about his intentions and who he is as a person then it ever does about her. I think this is such an important film for people to watch especially if your in your early to mid 20’s about the fantasy of what people think love is and the entire topic of desire as Curry Barker has crafted a film that is so complex and rich with subtext that this film will be deconstructed for years as I love that the internet and people are responding so strongly of the heavy meaning that is being spoken about within the film and sparking great online discussions. The themes of love, idolization and consent is greatly touched upon in ways that is essential for people to learn from as Horror and thrillers are one of the best genres that give fantastic social commentary on todays important topics I find and Obsession has some of the most compelling writing and storytelling I have seen that will for me at least rank among some of the best of the year as their is so much to take from this story. 

Secondly, The performances from the whole cast is great but we all know who the stand out that has the internet ablaze is Inde Navarrette who presents one of the most powerful star making performances of the year! Now I will say I had not been familiar with her work prior to this film as I had known of her work on the streaming series 13 reasons why but that was my extent of her work I knew. She will be getting so many offers after the success of this film and not just because it is a well done film but her role itself is brilliantly executed as this is a performance that in many other hands could of been one note and annoying very fast but she accessed it in a way that felt so layered and explored so many spectrums of the internal conflict going on within her character. She steals every single scene she is in and makes you unable to look away from what she is delivering to the screen she has such a heartbreaking performance in so many ways that has you feel for her as she struggles to grasp a hold of her authentic self slipping away Inde Navarrete delivers a sensational turn that will be among one of the greatest of the genre. Michael Johnston gives a terrific turn as well as someone that at first feels he has control over her actions and the situation but as the film progresses we see he has no idea what he has done to her and the way he reacts to the situation is essential to how us the viewer view his moral ethics about her. Johnston presents what is essentially the “nice guy” persona but is in my mind a wolf in sheep’s clothing and we see those layered peeled back further and further and the way he presents that conflict to the screen was brilliantly done and his performance is truly tremendous and should be equally as applauded due to the complicated morally grey area his character operates in and he had to do it justice without being judgmental of his character. Johnston is tremendous and delivers such authentic emotional depth that is felt in each frame. Everyone else is truly terrific but it is very much the central performance from Inde Navarrette that walks away with the film in terms of the performances. 

Lastly, Obsession is one of the finest films of the year that has an incredible screenplay with rich depth that I would go as far as saying it feels like the 2020’s version of Get Out. What I mean by that is when that film came out so many were quick to call it a “horror” film but it is not a traditional horror film by any means that film was so impactful because it discussed the topic of race in America at that current moment in time and it hit so many people in a very real way. This I feel is very much similar in story structure to a Jordan Peele film and how it has something to say under the surface of a thriller and Curry Baker has done a phenomenal job at analyzing toxic love and magnifying it with a truly sensational performance from Inde Navarrette who dominates the screen in this role Obsession to many is a “horror film” but in my view point yes it is a horror film but the real horror is the way that Curry Baker executes the nice guy persona and shows what happens when they have ill intent that to me is the true Horror of the film. Obsession is one of the best films of the year and truly unique in its storytelling and tone that will linger with so many after it is over. 

This film centres around a guy that makes a wish that his crush was utterly obsessed with him and after he does that lets just say he gets what he asked for 

Rated R : Grisly Images|Brief Graphic Nudity|Pervasive Language|Sexual Content|Strong Bloody Violence

Inde Navarrette : Inde gives one of the finest performances of the genre with her turn in this film! Now she has been very well known on the small screen for her work in 13 Reason’s why but has not really made a transition to the silver screen until now. The layers that are peeled back about her character and the emotional complexity of her heart is staggering. As she is this very laid back person that gets along with everyone in the room she captures a very specific personality type that most to anyone can relate to having a friend like this and so the character itself is very much rooted in truth. Their is that friend people either have thought of or entertained the idea of more then a friend but never really acted on those thoughts and which that person is liked by the entire friend group and lights the room up by simply entering it. That is how Nikki is looked at through the first 20 minutes and you can’t help but be drawn to how she is presenting this character onscreen as she is simply magnetic and the flow of her emotional dialogue just rolls off her so naturally. When the film does switch up though and she essentially becomes a prisoner within her own body that is when we see her brain kind of switch into this alternate version of what Nikki is and how she presents herself going forward is more of a false truth of what she stands for. Inde has this constant need to feel validated by Bear in the film and her brain chemistry is solely focused on wanting to be seen by him and her actions that he deems is across the line or downright weird she views with a totally separate lens as she thinks everything she does for him is out of love and sheer devotion to him. So their is this really opposite way of what they view as appropriate ways of showing affection and in the beginning its all fun for her because he is presenting that love back to her but as he grows tired of her he starts rejecting her affection and you can see the mental strain it takes on her and Inde really in the second and final act of the film shows such a terrifyingly heartbreaking side to her that just shines through the frame in such a tremendous way that leaves you rattled. You can see her heart in conflict with her brain as she just wants to feel that she is being acknowledged but as I also mentioned she is very much is a prisoner within her own body and those cracks of her real self start to come out more and more and its horrifying and you can see her true self trying to come out but gets suffocated due to what he has done to her. Inde walks a tough line as so many other actors would of just gone knee deep in the campy way of presenting this character and just resort to a very cartoonish take on it but Inde knows exactly the emotional requirements needed to best execute this character without her feeling one note or repetitive in any way. She was able to go through so many levels of emotional tenderness while allowing herself to present it in a very real way that just vibrates off the screen the amount of pain and suffering in her tone just breaks your heart and Inde Navarrette delivers a performance that I can easily see going into the hall of fame of all time great performances from this genre. She will be Huge after the success of this film as she is the driving force of the film in terms of performance and she commits to each single frame and just devours every second of this role she is sensational and truly is one of the strongest performances of the year for sure Inde is sensational in what will become a legendary performance when we look back on this film in a couple years from now she is truly terrific and brilliantly heartbreaking. 

Curry Barker : This guy has such a bright future ahead of him! Now he like a good handful of filmmakers in the last couple years has carved a name for himself from YouTube and gone on now to make a huge impression within the industry and sent shock waves due to his incredible work on Obsession. Now the only other filmmaker that is getting as much attention as him at the moment that also has made a genre film is Kane Parsons due to their age in their 20’s and they came up around the same time as content creators on the same platform making very successful debut films. Now what is so damn good about what Curry Barker has done with how he went about telling this story was he never complicated the narrative he does not bog down the film in heavy plot points he keeps it very simple and to the point. He takes a premise as simple as a guy wanting to tell a girl his feelings and he then he puts his original spin on what that would look like their is a ton of deep rooted themes and messages woven into the narrative but he does not try to achieve a million things he at the core of it is just trying to entertain the audience while giving them something to walk away with that can truly start conversations and he achieved that and so much more. He does not want to try to replicate others that came before him but create his own distinctive style which I respect so much as I have voiced already people have called this a “horror” it more is in my viewpoint a psychological thriller with deep rooted themes of consent but at the same time the horror landscape is so vast it can also fall under the umbrella of elevated horror due to its non traditional execution of the material. Curry captures such rich themes while also creating such a fantastic amount of lore so if he ever wanted to revisit this world he can expand upon it or leave it as a total original piece he was able to accomplish both things in the way he went about planting those seeds of his own story. The film is tremendously written as I have mentioned to a great extent already but the way he captures tone and sheer emotional uncertainty was great as you never knew where the story was going if it was going to switch up or rattle the audience the next he constantly keeps the audience on their toes and has them guessing where this film will end and having them truly locked into the characters arcs and what the eventual outcome will be. Curry Barker has demonstrated amazingly well that even with less then a million dollars he can wield a story to the screen that is well structured, has great pacing, fantastic tone and depth and scares that don’t feel cheap but genuinely are effective. Regardless of what he does next everyone’s eyes are on him to see what his next creative move is and for good reason he is a breath of fresh air to the film landscape and I cannot wait to see what he does next all I do know is I will be there opening night truly amazing direction and outstanding vision from Curry Barker.