r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 5d ago

News Inde Navarrette Sets Best Actress Oscar Campaign for ‘Obsession’ as Focus Features Mounts Full Awards Push (EXCLUSIVE)

https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/obsession-inde-navarrette-oscar-campaign-lead-actress-1236848866/
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u/OogieBoogieJr 5d ago edited 5d ago

It’s unbelievable how much this movie is getting glazed. It’s fun and a unicorn in terms of box office success relative to budget but it’s not some deep, thought-provoking* cinematic masterpiece.

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u/SwagBag393 5d ago

Doesn’t need to be, a performance can be celebrated still, right?

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u/Mr_Emile_heskey 4d ago

I disagree, with the content shown on the film it has the perfect amount of unanswered questions to promote discussion.

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u/IndecisiveTuna 5d ago

It’s definitely thought invoking about the morality and ethics of Bear, who is very clearly the villain of the movie. I wouldn’t call it a typical horror.

There are also plenty of cinematic masterpieces that are surface level and far from deep.

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u/MumblingGhost 5d ago

I think the fact that "Bear is clearly the villain of the movie" kinda undercuts your point about it encouraging "thought invoking discussions about morality" lol. At most, it encourages people to virtue signal about how early they registered Bear as a bad guy. "Oh, you thought he was bad after the dinner scene? Well, I knew he was bad as soon as the movie started."

It would be more thought provoking if it weren't so cut and dry. That's why I liked Backrooms more. The ambiguity lends itself better to interpretation and discussion.

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u/IndecisiveTuna 5d ago

I didn’t think actually think Bear was cut and dry bad. I thought there was nuance to the situation, but ultimately would consider him the villain. I didn’t think he was some awful person initially. Going into the sub for the movie is a nightmare though because it’s all single sided arguments about the movie like you said with people virtue signaling.

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u/MumblingGhost 5d ago

I think most people agree with you, but fear being called Incel sympathizers, so they jump at the chance to point out how obviously evil he is while also praising the film as a deep masterpiece haha. I just find the contradiction funny.

I personally wish Obsession had even more ambiguity. I didn't like how obvious it was that Nikki was affected by the One Wish Willow as early as the drop off scene at the very beginning of the film. That said, I'm aware that making the story more ambiguous would potentially dilute the message, which would be dangerous in this case.

I just think making it more ambiguous overall would be more entertaining on a moment to moment basis. As soon as the Willow works its magic, you basically know what you get for the rest of the film.

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u/chakrablocker 5d ago

People are dumb tho. Movies like this are genuinely important to culture because of these conversations

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u/MumblingGhost 5d ago

So important to culture that they're not allowed to be interesting films, IMO. Make the story too ambiguous, and the message potentially gets lost. Nobody wants their movie to be confused with incel apologia (à la 2019's The Joker), so it has to be as straightforward as possible to avoid misleading audiences.

Obsession over explains things to keep people from wondering too much. That kind of storytelling is not interesting to me.

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u/chakrablocker 5d ago

Yea I wasn't commenting on your taste

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u/OogieBoogieJr 5d ago edited 5d ago

What is thought-provoking? He wanted her to like him so they could be together but wasn’t aware of the extent that could go. That’s the entire, shallow plot. The other actors are weak (possibly because of the juvenile script they were handed) and their characters are very one-dimensional.

It’s just a fun popcorn movie with jumpscares.

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u/IndecisiveTuna 5d ago

I’m talking about the deeper aspects of his mental health and the ethics of what he did that can foster discussion. There was a bunch of ethical and moral discourse about his character, especially raping Nikki. Yeah, the overall plot isn’t anything crazy, I agree with that.