“Just remember that you wanted this.”
Obsession is the funniest movie I’ve seen this year. At the moment, it’s not all that close. This is a movie that relishes in the bleak promise of its premise, of a crush unleashed and spun out to its worst possible outcome. Writer-director Curry Barker has crafted a film that is at times unbearably tense only to turn around a serve up the kind of gallows humor that momentarily distracts from the film’s dark heart. After the screams die down, the laughter peters out, and fists unclench, what’s left is a story about a guy who doesn’t fully know how to interact with the world but is willing to wreck lives on the way to getting what he wants.
In case anyone out there hasn’t seen the film, the quick pitch for Obsession is this: a lovesick guy who, lacking the courage of his convictions, makes a wish for the girl he’s crushing on to love him more than “anyone else in the fucking world.” He gets his wish and, true to Monkey’s Paw dictates, much more than he bargained for.
We’re introduced to Bear (Michael Johnston) as he’s practicing the confessional he plans to deliver to the woman of his dreams, Nikki (breakout star Inde Navarrette). Standing in for Nikki is a waitress, sitting in a booth across from Bear. Off to the side is Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), the obligatory best friend whose ideas for winning someone’s affection are so bad they would be a cliche in the version of Obsession that lacks self-awareness. Two dolts, the guys discuss the best way for Bear to tell Nikki but they’re too caught up on the logistics to come up with any good ideas. The waitress doesn’t offer much in the way of advice, not that it matters. Bear and Ian aren’t listening anyway. That point will be hit again when Bear repeatedly ignores Sarah (Megan Lawless), the film’s voice of reason.
The depth of Nikki’s victimization is harrowing and is the thing the entire film is built around. As played by Navarrette, Nikki is a slippery character at first in the same way all crushes are. Bear can’t seem to get a handle on her, which makes sense the more we see him with her. Nikki, and the film, give Bear multiple opportunities to tell her how he feels about her. After stumbling through trivia night and a car ride home, Bear stalls out when Nikki opens the door for him one final time. He bungles that opportunity in spectacularly pitiful fashion, then takes the One Wish Willow novelty gift he got for her and uses it for himself. Whether Nikki will or would actually reciprocate Bear’s feelings, we’ll never know. But we have an inkling. Still, she’s presenting Bear with the opportunity he’s been preparing for from the film’s opening scene (and long before the audience becomes a part of this story). With one wish and the snap of the toy, suddenly Nikki is a whole new person, this one with an insatiable thirst to be with Bear. Unaware and unable to shake off what’s come over her, they both can tell that things have changed between them. The only difference is that Nikki is left to fight internally with whatever is now possessing her while Bear’s conflict is less metaphysical.
When Nikki breaks through her Sunken Place-esque trance, it’s jarring and hard to watch. This goes on from the second Bear makes his wish all the way through to the ending. Nikki’s early awkward glitches, misspeaking, and odd movements all point to her fighting against whatever is possessing her and forcing her to do, emphasis on forced. Losing all autonomy over yourself is terrifying. Watching Nikki go through it is deeply upsetting. One of the script’s bleakest jokes is one of its simplest. Nikki’s last name? It’s Freeman.
The way Barker and DP Taylor Clemons films Nikki helps reinforce all of the scripts themes and strongest points. She’s often framed in ways that cut her head off or leave her face in the shadows. On Barker’s commentary track he explains that he finds it more frightening and unsettling when characters can’t see the face of the other person in a scene. It makes it harder to read Nikki but, more importantly, it makes the scenes where her face and expressions are fully visible all the more effective.
The thing that has stood out to me about Obsession, the most buzzed about film of the year (pre-The Odyssey, of course), is the way people talk about the lead character Bear. Whether it was chatting with friends, reading reviews, perusing Letterboxd, one refrain caught my attention more than any other. It is the notion of how the film views its lead, Bear, and the recurring talking point of whether he’s a sympathetic character. Or, more to the heart of the issue, the degree to which he’s a victim or villain and whether the film views him in any such favorable light. That’s a matter of interpretation that’s for each viewer to decide for themselves. To me, it’s pretty clear from the first watch how the film and, by extension, writer-director Curry Barker wants us to view Bear. The question of how predatory Bear is hangs over the first part of the film, fully going away when the film cuts from Bear saying “it doesn’t matter to me” to him thrusting away on top of Nikki. Watching the film again, it’s not only obvious that Bear is the film’s antagonist, but Barker clearly wants us to view him that way.
That Barker is having a ball by tweaking the audience and digging Bear in deeper and deeper gives the film an undeniable mean streak, which I think is one of its strengths.
Obsession provides a lot for viewers to mull over and engage with. The physical release backs that up by going light on bonus features and letting the film be the star. There’s a commentary track by Barker, which is sufficiently informative. It’s a straightforward track, with plenty of production anecdotes and tidbits about how various shots were achieved and the different iterations of scenes he worked through. The other supplement is a fairly standard behind the scenes interview with Barker, Johnston, Navarrette, Tomlinson, and Lawless. The main takeaway from the interviews is the infectious excitement of everyone getting their chance to make a feature. I appreciate the scant the less-is-more approach to this release. With a hit like this most studios would’ve gone overboard with the supplements, but Obsession benefits more by having its makers say less and leaving the conversation to viewers.
Obsession is available now on 4K and blu-ray
