My little food critic

Just because Current Joys finally got justice for their underrated music doesn’t mean anyone else in this flick did. Long story short: Bear is the true villain of this story. I appreciated Curry Baker’s rom-com subversion. There were moments when Bear seemed like a guy trying to navigate romance in the age of disengagement and misunderstandings. However, at every twist and turn, he failed to correct his mistake. Ultimately dragging the cast of characters to a Shakespearean tragic ending. Despite Baker not giving us insight into Nikki’s headspace, I assume she’s in a “Get Out”-adjacent sunken place. As a result of Bear’s haphazard wish, Nikki has become a passive viewer of her relationship with Bear. Frozen at her doorstep, an (take a shot) spirit takes control of her body. Rather than connecting the dots, Bear is blissfully ignorant of the effects of his one wish. I haven’t watched the few commentary videos explaining why he’s the villain in an effort to avoid unwarranted spoilers before watching this in theaters. Now that I’ve had my experience with “Obsession,” I understand why the “he’s the villain” phrase has come up numerous times. Bear expected Nikki to be his eager companion who lived predominantly in the heart of his home. However, his inner darkness is alluded to through the color grading and lighting. Taking a Coppola approach to lighting, shadows consume the rooms Bear and Nikki occupy. Naturally, the low lighting heightens our paranoia when Nikki hides in corners, wailing for Bear. As the curse worsens, Bear refuses to acknowledge the severity of his situation. The boundaries he establishes with Nikki are slaps on the wrist, at best. His delusion clouded his judgment so intensely that he doesn’t recognize that he can’t reason with someone in this state of mind. This contradicts his initial concerns from the exposition. His concerns about denying Nikki access to consent and being fearful that she was inebriated all withered away the moment he confessed his feelings for her. He is so careless with the actual Nikki, so much so that he waits until the end of Act Two to get curious about how to reverse or contradict the One Wish Willow. Secondly, Bear tells Nikki over dinner that he wants to become a food critic one day. Granted, these characters are young people who have a right to evolve and shift their interests, but why do we have ZERO clues about this hidden dream of Bear’s? The main set is his home. Mind you, there are no cookbooks, spice racks, or even elaborate cooking dishes. I interpret this as an intentional production design choice to reveal Bear’s disingenuous passion. Bear claims he’s in love with Nikki, but he never wanted her autonomy or actual demeanor. He wanted to be the center of her world without her input or personality. He wants to be a food critic, yet he couldn’t smell that Sandy-wich? Bear’s dismal commitment to anything smothered the fire of the women in his life. Nikki had plans of moving out to pursue her writing career. Sarah waited anxiously for an acceptance letter from art school, hoping to be a tattoo artist. All this dissolved into nothingness so Bear could have Sarah and Nikki's enamored attention. (I’m convinced Bear relished knowing Sarah had a crush on him. This boosted his ego, especially since Nikki’s in love with him more than anyone else in the f#%king world.) Considering the amount of passion I have about these characters and how invested I’ve become in their worlds, it’s safe to say I enjoyed this story. The themes about consent and free will were great, and the stakes rose at a decent rate. The pacing was a little off at times. The cinematography really outshone any other choices in this film. The costuming had a small-town alternative vibe we don’t see enough of in mainstream films. Dressing Nikki in red frequently throughout the story was a nice element as well. Inde Navarrette made this film beyond memorable. Her performance control is something to be marveled at. She embodied the mannerisms of a cat while simultaneously distinguishing the wavering boundaries of the real Nikki and the possessed spirit. Even though the aesthetics of “Obsession” were well-rounded on screen, this film reminded me of too many other recent horror films to be immersive. The fact that Nikki was basically in the sunken place was a solid homage to “Get Out” (2017), but when Nikki started to say, “no, no, no, no,...” it felt too similar to that kitchen scene for me to feel the energy shift completely. Most of the locations reminded me of different movies (the house = Barbarian (2022), the party scene = Talk to Me (2022)), and the tone was a little too clean to make its voice unique. All in all, I give this film 3.9 stars out of 5 stars. And HEY! We have a new scream queen