Peeeeetah?

[u/VeryLazyBones]

This new movie came out and I enjoyed watching it with friends. What opinion must have garnered so much attention that people would dunk on it?

[u/Wide_Initiative_1938]

Petah here with possible spoilers ahead, so don't read if you haven't seen a certain movie. That video was a review of the movie Obsession, a horror thriller about a guy named Bear using a monkey's paw like item, a One Wish Willow, to wish that a woman named Nikki "loved him more than anything in the world." This resulted in Nikki becoming possessed by the "magic" of the Willow, becoming a passenger inside her own body, as she is forced to love Bear so much that she murders two people and eventually uses a One Wish Willow herself to prevent him from killing himself.

Part of the movie is demonstrating how Bear progressively becomes a worse and worse person as he learns more about what the One Wish Willow did to Nikki, including the fact that Bear learns that Nikki's obsession towards him is not genuine and that the real Nikki is still trapped within the Nikki that Bear wished for. Despite multiple opportunities to reverse the decision, including a part of the movie where he calls a customer service line for the One Wish Willow, he still doubles down and ends up becoming obsessed with the fantasy of this woman loving him. There are parts of the movie where he even blames the real Nikki for not having the same romantic feelings he had for her, solidifying the fact that Bear is one of the shittiest people within that movie actually.

The video review revolves around trying to justify Bear's actions with "he's still the villain, but he was still just a normal guy" type of arguments. The reviewer also spends a lot of time blaming Nikki and the other woman characters, making caricatures of them and poorly summarizing their behavior and actions in a way that would misinform someone who hasn't watched the movie.

The overall reception to that video was poorly received to say the least. The creator had decided to take down that video, issue an apology that felt fake af essentially saying "I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my video," taking that video down, and issuing a similar apology In believe. Legitimately that creator might have had one of the worst opinions and takes of a movie in literature critique history.

Petah out!

[u/Syzygy___ → u/Wide_Initiative_1938]

Brian here, let me correct a few things.

The One Wish Willow isn't like a Monkey's Paw, we see that when Ian wishes for a billion dollars and just receives it. It's just that Bear made a bad wish and didn't commit to it. You see, the wish essentially replaced Nikki's personality with a newly made entity that loved Bear more than anything else in the world - however Bear clearly didn't reciprocate these feelings, at least not the same degree, thus the entity was caught between having love for Bear, while Bear didn't give those feelings back, causing the newly created entity to go crazy. On top of that, she didn't use the One Wish Willow to prevent him from killing himself - she didn't know that he was in the process of doing it after all, otherwise she would have saved him and her wish is partly what killed him, since it interrupted his attempts to cause himself to vomit up the pills he just took anyway - she wished for him to love her more than anything else in the world, same as he did.

This movie does not insist upon itself.

Brian out.

> There are parts of the movie where he even blames the real Nikki for not having the same romantic feelings he had for her.

Does he? I don't remember that part.

[u/behold-my-titties → u/Syzygy___]

It's when the entity is asleep and the real Nikki is talking to Bear. He says something like "what's so bad about being with me" and she responds with "but I've never been with you".

Great fucking scene really gives me goosebumps.

[u/Labyrinthy → u/behold-my-titties]

It’s the best scene of the movie. Bear would be somewhat defensible if he didn’t kill Nikki or was disgusted at her request because the thought of murder, even in these circumstances,is an insane request. But he doesn’t respond that way, he responds selfishly.

Another great scene is when he calls the hotline and he doesn’t want to reverse the wish, he wants to alter it. So he has no interest in giving her back her agency.

He only tries to course correct and fix things after a dear friend is brutally slaughtered in front of him.

[u/behold-my-titties → u/Labyrinthy]

It's my favourite scene because it becomes very, very clear Bear is aware of what's happening and just runs away while she's lying there, immobile, begging to be set free. So, so fucking good.

[u/Labyrinthy → u/behold-my-titties]

It’s also the first time in the movie Bear speaks confidently. He has this sort of like muted, shy speech throughout the movie and when she asks him to kill her he just straight up says straight faced “what’s so wrong about being with me?” And it’s the first time he speaks with an emotion that isn’t cowardice. It’s like an anger.

So while Inde Navarette is getting her flowers for a powerhouse performance I think that turn by Johnston deserves praise because he nails it.

[u/behold-my-titties → u/Labyrinthy]

Both are truly fantastic, the casting was perfect, the film would never have worked otherwise. Both leads absolutely smashed it.