Blu-ray Review: LURKER

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Apr 11 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

“What’s the difference between love and obsession?”

Matthew Morning (Théodore Pellerin) is a lonely retail employee working at a small Los Angeles clothing store that is frequented by celebrities. One day rising pop musician Oliver (Archie Madekwe, Gran Turismo) walks into the store. Matthew isn’t familiar with Oliver’s music, but Oliver is impressed by Matthew’s music selection for the shop, and invites him to come to his concert and hang out. One invitation leads to another, and soon Matthew finds himself one of Oliver’s groupies. Oliver encourages Matthew to become his documentarian, filming everything that’s happening off stage to use for a film about the making of his next album. And so Matthew quits his job and starts devoting himself to this full time, even becoming a bit of recognizable celebrity himself. However, he starts getting addicted to this feeling of fame, and being needed by Oliver. He’s constantly lurking, and spending time with Oliver becomes his obsession and almost his meaning in life. So much so, that when others start to share in Oliver’s attention, Matthew starts to feel threatened and manipulates situations, taking some questionable actions to ensure he remains Oliver’s top guy.

The psychological thriller Lurker comes from writer/director Alex Russell (The Bear, Beef), and is an interesting film that explores the darker side of celebrity and fame, and what people are willing to do to achieve it. I really enjoyed how the film switches things up halfway through, turning the relationships around. At first you feel bad for Matt. He’s this lonely guy who initially seems used and ignored by Oliver. Oliver will invite him over but then leave or not talk to him for most of the night. Oliver seems like a bit of a jerk, while the audience feels sympathy for Matt. Matt is constantly trying to get Oliver’s attention and do things for him, but Oliver’s other friends have seen this so many times, with many Matt’s coming and going over the years, so they don’t really even invest in a friendship with Matt. But Matt is determined to make sure he has a role in the group. Eventually Oliver starts treating him like a son, with Matt referring to Oliver as “daddy”, despite the fact that they’re around the same age.

While we slowly see Matt’s behavior change and that he’s willing to do anything, this initially just feels like ambition. However, once this ambition starts to cross the line into manipulation, the audience starts to lose any sympathy for Matt. He becomes more of the villain, and you start to sympathize more with Oliver and his friends for allowing this snake into their home. Matt is more of this stalker and lurker. He even turns on his own friend/coworker Jamie (Sunny Suljic) when he starts to hang out and become part of Oliver’s friend group. Matt doesn’t care if his friend is happy or that he’s unaware that he’s upsetting Matt—Matt doesn’t want to share the attention and spotlight, and starts doing some really manipulative and despicable things, trying to secure his position with Oliver. But when this backfires, things really get ratcheted up to a whole new level in the final act, changing up the power dynamic and even sucking the joy out of performing for Oliver. It’s quite a unique and interesting turn of events.

MUBI/Alliance Home Entertainment have released Lurker on Blu-ray & Digital. We were sent a copy of the Blu-ray release for review. The video presentation looks great as it goes for a very specific visual aesthetic. This is not shooting for a modern crisp and clean look, and instead has a noticeable level of grain and dirt flecks. When Matt watches Oliver for the first time backstage, there is this blue tone to the picture. The film’s changing but stylized look is captured beautifully on the Blu-ray. The audio track provides clear dialogue, and does a nice job of providing an immersive ambiance throughout.

The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a slightly thicker clear HD keepcase, which is covered in a sturdy carboard slipcover. Unfortunately the disc is barebones, with no bonus material, and no digital copy is included.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:40:22)

1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 DTS-HD MA, French 5.1 DTS, French 2.0 DTS
Subtitles: English (Full), English SDH, French (Forced), French (Full), French SDH

Extras:

There is no bonus material included.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Lurker is an interesting psychological thriller that features strong performances by leads Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin, as it explores themes of fame, obsession and friendship. MUBI’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, but the disc is barebones without any bonus material or digital copy. It’s worth a look, but for those wanted to check it out before a blind buy, the film is currently streaming on MUBI.