"Obsession's Bear is the real villain" is not the amazing insight you believe it to be
Over the weekend, I met up with a buddy and saw director Curry Barker's feature-length debut film, Obsession, which was very good, very intense, frequently creepy, and very darkly funny!
This post contains light spoilers for the film, so stop reading now if you care about that. This also isn't a plot summary and assumes that you have either seen the film or read a plot summary.
Over the last several days, the internet has exploded with discussion about this film, which is good, because it deserves to do well, and lead actress Inde Navarrette deserves the universal praise she's getting for her performance as Nikki.
(As an aside, Wikipedia says her name is pronounced "IN-dee NAV-uh-RET-ee," which is amusing, because "Inde" is the French word for "India," and "-ette" is a common French feminine diminutive suffix, but neither word of her name is pronounced at all like it would be in French.)
Anyway, I keep seeing the take "actually, Bear's the bad guy in this movie" (as opposed to possessed Nikki, who murders two people), as if it's some kind of deeply insightful, revelatory take.
That's the film. That's the whole film.
Perhaps not even five minutes after Nikki becomes possessed, they're in Bear's bed and about to kiss, when the real Nikki regains control, springs backward off the bed in sheer terror, and yells something like "what the fuck is going on?" The possessing entity then immediately regains control and begins to laugh it off.
I would like to think that any decent person, having witnessed this, would immediately put a stop to the evening's activities. "Hey, that was really unsettling. Whatever was about to happen clearly wasn't a good thing. How about I take you to a friend's house?" Bear does not say anything of the sort. He recognizes that something is very "off," even if he doesn't pin it as supernatural yet (which is fair), and ignores that recognition.
His very first decision in the central narrative is one of maintaining control/possession of a woman. This happens at the beginning of the movie. His remaining decisions are even more overtly in the same vein. At no point for the remainder of the film does he ever say, to anyone, including Nikki, "Nikki really needs help."
And yet:
AND ALSO:
It's like the fuckin' Spongebob diapers meme, but with people acting like they've cracked a big case due to being able to read a flashing neon sign saying "this guy's not good" within a 108-minute time limit.