a review of

It's near impossible to talk about Obsession without bringing up Inde Navarrette's performance as Nikki, whose love for the main bad, Bear, could only be conjured by snapping the One Wish Willow novelty toy in twain, her personality snapping in two along with it. On a dime, Inde turns her face and demeanor from hopelessly devoted to hellishly demonic to downright helpless. (I couldn't think of another h-adverb d-adjective pairing, but was able to flip it to a d-h.) It's easy to say Inde channels Isabelle Adjani, but in my mind, I found her performance to be more inline with how James McAvoy seamlessly shifts his personalities in Split (from what I can remember of it) or Speak No Evil (from what I saw in the trailer); it's more about the face - the Pearl Smile, the Big Frown - and the vocality - the sweetness, the screaming - than it is about a full-bodied convulsive meltdown. (Also, I'm docking a half-star for the needlessly creepy fast walk/quick movement moments in a couple of the scenes - unnecessary when the rest of the performance is a stand-out.) As for the rest of the movie overall? Well, it gave me post-traumatic stress and I felt like I was going to throw up, so good job everyone.