Obsession Review

 

Music store clerk Bear (played by Michael Johnston) has a crush on his coworker Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette) and makes a seemingly harmless wish then Nikki was in love with him and it seemingly works… Too well

The best thing about this movie is Inde Navarrette's performance; how she’s able to immediately switch between lovesick kitten and arranged mountain lion is very impressive as she brings a lot of emotion to each scene.

On the flipside, Michael Johnston brings a lot of subtle acting and makes a great audience avatar for the film while also creating a lot of interesting discussions about how culpable and villainous his character may be. Personally, I feel like he is a little naïve and misguided but sympathetic throughout.

Also, I don’t know how many other people are going to get this, but Michael Johnston looks a lot like YouTuber Julian Smith, who would make a lot of these dark comedic, short films that remind me a lot of this movie, so it kind of feels like you’re watching a movie-length Julian Smith sketch, which kind of worked lol.

The film has a surprising amount of silly yet dark sense of humor, which is very surprising and disarming when it comes up and is effectively funny and is a good way to cut up the tension throughout the movie while still being within that dark tone.

The filmmaking is very intentionally bare bones, with a lot of long wide shots in creepily lit rooms and a dark color grading that adds a lot of quiet mystery and uncomfortable tension to the scenes.

The movie doesn’t go too far into the supernatural aspects and explanations, I wish there had been a tiny bit more, at least in relation to a certain plot point but for the most part, the way it was presented in the film is very ordinary felt very fresh and a nice subversion of these kinds of movies

Most of the film’s who comes from characters, acting strange, and rising tensions, but there are a few bloody parts that are effective, but not too brutal, except one scene in a car, you’ll know it when you see it and while you can kind of notice the budget in that scene it’s still very effective and comes out of nowhere at first

Megan Lawless as Bear’s friend Sarah is an underrated part of the film, her character is very likable down to earth and add a fresh breath to the tone when things really start getting cuckoo for Cocoa puffs lol

A very small spoiler… for some reason Andy Richter (yes that Andy Richter lol), appears in the film as the music store manager, he’s not in the movie a whole lot and I don’t even know if they show him in any close-ups, but it was a fun surprise to see in the film

Cooper Tomlinson as Bear & Nikki’s friend, Ian, brings a lot of humor and charm to the role, and he probably got the biggest laugh out of the audience at one of his scenes… You’ll know it when you see it.

The third act does feel a smidge rushed at points, like a certain character’s story does feel a bit rushed to a conclusion and things escalate pretty quickly, but never too unsatisfying an amount for the overall story.

The soundtrack was very effective; it being creepy and the minimal style really worked with the film's tone.

The cinematography is very moody and has a grimy feel that really matches some of the wild stuff that happens.

I liked the ending and where the characters went; it’s one of those movies I could have had like six different endings for that you could see working, but the one they chose I thought was a pretty good one. It even had some dark comedic elements to this.

Inde Navarrette also make some pretty memorable creepy faces that I’m sure we’re gonna see him memes for a while lol

Like I said, there isn’t a whole lot of gore, and it’s not too explicit, but there are a couple moments where things definitely get “squishy” lol.

Curry Baker’s directing as I’ve said is pretty impressive, it’s minimal, but you can tell intentional and he knows how to get great performances out of his actors while feeling natural and can really build tension to a satisfying pay off… apparently he supposed to be directing a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, which after watching this movie doesn’t really tell me how that movie will do or feel, but I do recognize this kids got talent so I’m at least interested to see where he goes with it… A future review to come soon lol.

I also got to see the movie with my buddies, and we all enjoyed it so that’s always awesome

Obsession is a strong somber debut for Curry Baker; it takes a familiar story and infuses it with a lot of stellar performances, interesting character beats, a good sense of humor, and memorable unsettling images that really make this film something special and enjoyable… I give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I’m not… obsessed with the film, but it's still pretty cool. 😅😂👍