Directed By Alex Russell

Starring – Theodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Sunny Suljic

The Plot – Matthew (Pellerin),A retail employee, infiltrates the inner circle of an idolized music artist (Madekwe) on the verge of stardom. As he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

Rated R for adult language throughout and some sexual content.

LURKER | Official Trailer | In Theaters Now

POSITIVES

After overwhelming critical and audience success writing two of television’s biggest phenomenon’s over the last decade, with “The Bear” and “Beef”, Alex Russell makes the seamless transition to the director’s chair, in his feature length debut, depicting the vulnerabilities of limelight stardom at any level, while uncorking a compelling game of will’s between his characters that devilishly deconstructs the differences between love and obsession in its most animalistic form. To most movies pertaining to obsessive Stan’s, their characters feel one-dimensional, with eventual outcomes that renders glaringly predictable intentions even from miles away, however Russell not only commits his writing to the conscience of his characters, with Matthew’s evidential loneliness and social awkwardness appraising an element of empathy to the character, even without deliberately justifying his actions, but also takes the explorational engagement in truly unforeseen directions that consistently maintained my patience and investment in the picture, despite some uncomfortably dire situations in the script that effectively convey the vulnerability of sought-after stardom, enacting a film far more cerebral than the typical thriller, even with very little in the film that constitutes its labeling as such. Russell’s greatest quality as a director is how he’s able to convey insight into such a singularly depraved protagonist, with second hand embarrassment that comes across naturally throughout the integrity of these executed interactions between his characters, with long shots that constantly linger on Matthew’s reactions to surmising conflicts, all in the way of unloading palpable elements of rage, jealousy, and even occasional paranoia that brandish complexity to the depths of the characterization that we can coherently interpret from the opening minute as being ripe with instability. On top of this, the production’s impulses in artistry render a distinctive low grade appeal to the imagery of the presentation that make it feel like a genuine document of hyper-digitized manipulation and parasocial relationships, which give it an authentic handheld vibe mirroring Matthew’s own perspective on the artist within the narrative. Despite not exactly coming across as stylistically enamoring to an audience while projecting on a big screen, on account of its occasionally erratic handheld camera work, it does naturally immerse us into the darkly depraved encompassing of Matthew’s toxically imaginative objective, capturing a documentarian-like approach to the transpiring and sequencing of its non-linear narrative between a thorough character study and a representation of the chaotic nature of show business that granted me unfiltered access to such lavishly care-free lifestyles, initiating a uniquely captivating artistry that allows art to imitate life in real time. If this isn’t enough, music plays a vital role to the execution of the engagement, with a psychologically immersive delve of a score into Matthew’s psyche, from composer Kenny Beats (Also his film debut), but also a couple of original tracks to the soundtrack written and performed legitimately from Beats and Madekwe. On the former, the exhilaratingly experimental instrumentals incorporating aspects of moodily ambiatic techno and trance music open up and expand throughout the duration of the film, in order to seamlessly replicate the roller-coaster of emotions that Matthew is feeling towards finally finding a place of his own within the world, and the latter, with its dedication to genres of R&B and pop music, respectively, does unload some musically snappy and lyrically catchy tracks that appraise authenticity within Madekwe’s channeling of a world-famous musician, proving that the production took ample time and opportunity towards fleshing the believability of his design, all the while cementing music as the character of its own within the movie, to which the characters feel most truthful towards. Last but not least, I have to give epic praises to the performances of Theodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe, who each command investing attention within respective turns that combine complexity to defense mechanised personalities at the forefront of their artificial demeanors. For Pellerin, this seemingly comes across naturally, both with a disingenuously deceptive demeanor on the surface level, as well as a boiling inferno of intensity persisting just beneath the surface, and while his turn could easily come across as unintentionally comical to the ways he’s asked to respond to such unwelcoming developments, Pellerin undercuts such adversity with a cunningly menacing form of subtle psychology that constantly conjures checkmate in the mental chess being played between him and Madekwe. Speaking of Archie, it’s easy for him to get lost in the shadow of such a brilliant turn from Pellerin, however he effortlessly elicits a duality to the pop stardom superstar that simultaneously rides the waves of the person he’s supposed to be in the public eye, with the power hungry diva he is off-stage, attaining Madekwe’s single best work as an actor to date, especially in the comfortability and cadence that lends itself to him disappearing within such an inaccessible personality.

NEGATIVES

In terms of underwhelming aspects for “Lurker”, there are some unfulfilling decisions and unfortunate directions within the script that undercut any preconceived ideas of what I expected from this film in the first place, particularly a lack of thrills and third act deviation in focus that took the movie’s momentum down a step, while attempting to remain faithfully invested to the aerodynamics of the movie’s developments. Perhaps it’s an aspect of sitting through so many of these stalker Stan kind of films, or even that the script itself features too many underdeveloped side characters and dynamics that surmise and die with their various introductions, but I expected far more tension and suspense to the transpiring journey of this 95-minute engagement, especially against such an imposing presence of someone like Matthew leading the charge against the sanctimony of this spoiled popstar, and while the film does effectively tap into no shortage of uncomfortable interactions between its characters, the blow-offs of these initial setups don’t rise to the occasion to produce an overwhelming climax, where the script seemingly takes the safest and most unconfrontational route out of town. Part of the problem with the third act is that it deviates quite noticeably from the perspective of Matthew remaining the committed protagonist, who drove the movie’s narrative, in turn creating abrupt and seemingly inconsequential actions to what’s executed, but for my money, just as much of the adversity within the intention resides on an underwhelming and imbalanced resolution that takes chances at the single most compromising time imaginable, resulting in what I call the fanfiction kind of ending that will undoubtedly divide audience feelings on the entirety of the experience. Speaking of fanfiction, there are some moments during the foundation-building of the narrative that didn’t exactly gel with the kind of honesty or believability of the intended situation, particularly those moments involving Matthew finding his way into the group, as well as a glossed over physical confrontation in the middle of the film, which come and go with the impact of an adoring fan writing themselves into an interaction with their favorite superstar. This could be part of the intention of Russell’s writing, as so much transpiring doesn’t abide by the laws of reality, but to the best of my interpretation, I found everything in the film subscribing to a realistic canvas of the very same world that we inherited, and as a result it requires a bit more suspension of disbelief than I was initially expecting, creating these distracting instances that kept me from fully investing into what’s ultimately asked of me.

OVERALL
“Lurker” represents a promising feature length and directorial debut for Alex Russell, who transfixingly invests audiences into an exploration of celebrity, obsession, and the parasocial relationships that cynically bind them. Despite some muddled intentions during the film’s most climactic instances, the film soaks up the stage tremendously by an uncomfortably unraveling performance from Theodore Pellerin, as well as a psychological absorbing score that echoes the emotional versatility of its titular Stan, cementing a shiver into starstruck stardom that opts for unnerving instead of riveting.

My Grade: 7.6 or B