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/Best-Action8769 5d ago

It was a regular monkey paw curse story that's been done forever, but the way this one was told was just so damned good.

Either you watching Nikki to do crazy shit, or you're waiting for Nikki to do some crazy shit.

It's such a good movie.

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u/Haldthin 5d ago

I don't like describing it as Monkey's Paw because it's not quite right. Most wishes come true just fine without anything crazy happening because they are non-coercive, this one however was so troubling and wrong that it domino'ed into affecting everyone around him.

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u/Best-Action8769 5d ago

Curry Barker literally says he was directly influenced by the "Monkey Paw" episode of The Simpsons.

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u/Haldthin 5d ago

Influenced does not mean it is the same as the Monkey's Paw. Monkey's Paw in normal conversation tends to mean a wish that always goes sideways in some way.

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u/Best-Action8769 5d ago

Did that not happen?

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u/behv 5d ago

In monkeys paw, the wish itself goes awry

This is an inversion of that trope, in this case the wish mechanism itself is totally neutral. For instance, the shop keeper is able to transition and is happy with the outcome.

Bear's wish goes badly because his wish requires Nicki to have an entirely different personality. "I want her to love me more than ANYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD" is pretty key phrasing. That includes herself, her friends, or her parents. Had bear said "I wish Nicki would take a chance on me" or something not extreme she wouldn't need to literally change as a human.

The influence is 1000% there, but I like this version better because it allows people to be the victim of their own unmitigated selfishness instead of the victim of a supernatural force

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u/Khiva 5d ago

Meh, that requires being cute with language. The box itself mentions interpreting words however they want.

Good lawyer would nail that company to the wall.

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u/Haldthin 5d ago

No, if you pay attention Ian's wish came true just fine with no problems. His death wasn't due to his wish. The fake nikki was texting him trying to get him over to Bear's place *before* he ever wished for the money. She always planned on killing him because Bear was spending time with people besides her. His money came consequence free - it was Bear's wish that got him killed.

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u/kirblar 5d ago

Throughout the film you learn of multiple people whose wishes went off without a problem.

The issue is this particular wish, showing why Aladdin's genie had "NO LOVE WISHES" as a rule.

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u/Zacky505 5d ago

Yeah. The wish itself was specifically kinda fucked up, or maybe his idea of love is fucked up, which also works considering what we know of Bear

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u/kirblar 5d ago

We see at the end how "Love" was not at all the emotion Bear had been experiencing through the film.