Film Review | ‘Lurker,’ Alex Russell’s Directorial Debut 

Fame and the magnetic and/or obsessive lure thereof appear in contemporary, info-glutted life on multiple levels, from mass culture celebrity to the insular spheres of social media-ted influencers. Likes rule, along with box office, fan bases and paparazzi bling, and followers — that’s us — are drawn like flies to the sweet stuff, both as consumers and wannabe fame-adjacent parties. In that scenario, potential evil and exploitation lurk.

In the aptly-titled Lurker, a deftly-told and subtle thriller, the fragile power play relationship unfolds between the fame factor — the rising singing star Oliver (Archie Madekwe), circa 2018 — and a hip clothes store employee, Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), who slyly finagles his way into the celebrity’s circle, almost without even trying. Ironically, Matthew’s very seeming indifference and lack of awareness of Oliver’s music is what triggers the star’s invitation to initially bring him around as a fresh set of ears — and a fresh addition to his posse of friends and fawning sycophants.

As their connection deepens and Matthew becomes an all-purpose man about Oliver, shooting video footage for a documentary and maneuvering his way into areas of the creative machinery, Matthew’s desperate need to make himself important takes on sinister dimensions. At one point, Oliver confesses his vulnerability as one whose own upbringing was tough and that “I have a new family now, and I get to choose who’s in it.” Fearing expulsion from Oliver’s hand-picked “new family,” Matthew connives ways to slice other aids out of the scene, and a moment of his potential ouster leads him to schemes involving blackmail and a dubious self-designed promotion to status as producer/manager. 

Writer-director Russell, known as a writer for TV’s The Bear among other TV gigs, brings a fresh style and rhythm to the film’s storytelling approach, avoiding many cliches we’ve come to know and sometimes love, or at least tolerate. In a way, we can find a common ground between the intense and interactive microcosm of the restaurant milieu of The Bear and the self-indulgent celebrity enclave of Oliver’s world, with people jockeying for power. 

Refreshingly, the characters in Lurker exist in shades of gray and change before our eyes, an acting challenge which the Canadian Pellerin and the British Madekwe handle with impressive ease and chameleonic game faces. As the celebrity nucleus of his own enclosed camp, Oliver can be imperious and vulnerable, sometimes concurrently, while Matthew is a semi-opaque figure we never fully understand — except for his growing lust for emotional belonging and power within Oliver’s insular world.

Lurker is unique in many ways, though sparking natural comparisons to past inner circle music world films, such as Almost Famous and the brilliant, underrated Alex Ross Perry film Her Smell (with the dazzling Elizabeth Moss as a self-destructive singer). Fittingly, the look, feel and sound of the film tap into aspects of tech and fashion, tied to the 2018 time setting. Slick visual elements collide and combine with the raggedy video qualities of Matthew’s bulky old school camera, and music becomes both a seductive coating in the film and a malleable thematic core for the story. 

Despite the potential for extreme turns in the narrative, Russell manages to maintain restraint amid the madness at hand. After Matthew’s disowned moment and his subsequent unraveling into amoral and possibly criminal actions, we half expect the film to go in the nasty direction of Scorsese’s King of Comedy, with Robert DeNiro as the crazed fan of talk show host (Jerry Lewis) or, more recently, Ari Astor’s Eddington, with Joaquin Phoenix’s formerly mild-mannered character going violently gonzo after a dark turn in his life.

But sometimes, as seen here, the wild, surreal twists and turns of show biz life itself are extreme enough to spice up the cinematic recipe. Gunplay is not always necessary. Video can both kill and elevate the radio star.