Love gone wrong: Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette in ‘Obsession’.

OBSESSION *** (108 minutes) MA
Wow them in the end. Whatever problems a film has, the audience will forgive almost anything so long as they get a cracker payoff.

That’s the Big Lesson Charlie Kaufman delivered in 2002’s Adaptation, via director Spike Jonze and actor Brian Cox who, playing famous screenwriting expert Robert McKee, wisely explained to Nicolas Cage how the third act makes a movie. (Check the scene out here. It’s golden.)

And that’s the case with Obsession, the low-budget horror movie that has become a box-office sensation.

Using the age-old “watch what you wish for” premise, Baron (Michael Johnston), a socially awkward teenage archetype, uses a novelty wish stick to get his secret crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) to move him out of the dreaded friend-zone and get up close and personal.

Predictably, things spiral out of control as Nikki becomes possessive and suspicious, two adjectives that exact a lethal and singularly grotty toll on the hapless Baron, now desperate to somehow cancel his wish.

Written and directed by Curry Barker, the film is all over the shop, playing its cards too early rather than building tension by holding them closer to its chest.

In consequence, the story quickly runs dry on ideas and defaults to a range of horror tropes and ick moments.

But just when you begin wondering what all the fuss about this movie is due to, you’re hit with precisely what all the fuss about this movie is due to. Things then escalate from there.

And, yes, it’s so good and so well done all the flaws and shortcomings that came before are forgiven.

Though Obsession doesn’t sport the level of ingenuity of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, the two horror films, both released in May, have several important things in common;

Both directors are YouTubers who deeply love the genre and its conventions; both films were made on low budgets (Backrooms was around $US10m; Obsession was made for about $US750K, an astonishing number that wouldn’t cover the coffee tab on a studio film); and both were huge box-office hits. Backrooms took $US387m; Obsession, an amazing $US444m. Talk about ROI.

It’s also important to note that while both films were made on constricted production schedules, neither are examples of guerrilla or “alternative” filmmaking.

Each film underwent a full development process during which the design and execution of the film was finessed and refined.

What this signals is that while young filmmakers might well hone their skills via social media – the web has been around for three decades now, so we can stop calling such platforms “new media” – their instincts to deliver potent genre experiences to a well-defined audience are resolutely classical.

And hearteningly so.

Obsession is still in theatres and is now available to rent or buy on: Prime Video; Apple TV; Fetch; YouTube; Foxtel Store; Google TV; and Sky NZ.

THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN *** (136 minutes) MA
It takes Olivier Assayas’ geopolitical drama a solid half hour to get into gear but once it does Paul Dano’s central performance as Baranov, a softly spoken, high-ranking Russian political operative begins to shine.

A fictionalized, leisurely paced look at Russia’s transformation from 1980s Soviet goliath to new-century global meddler, veteran director Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) dials things up dramatically once Jude Law’s impressive turn as power-obsessed Vladimir Putin kicks in.

Based on Guiliano da Empoli’s 2022 novel, the film has elements of satire, especially in its depiction of Russia’s online disinformation warriors, and features a sporadic supporting performance from Alicia Vikander.

#