HURRY UP TOMORROW Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Trey Edward Shults
Stars: The Weeknd, Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan, Riley Keogh.
Singer The Weeknd (real name Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) stars in this psychological thriller in which he plays a thinly fictionalised version of himself, an insomniac singer tapped in a nightmare in which he encounters a dangerous and obsessed fan/groupie.
The fictional The Weeknd is at the end of a toxic relationship with a woman (voiced by Riley Keogh), who is leaving him nasty messages on his phone. This is during the middle of a concert tour, but he seems distracted by an urgent need to contact the woman. His manager and best friend Lee (Barry Keoghan, from Saltburn, etc) is frustrated by The Weeknd’s lack of focus.
During his stage appearance the singer loses his voice. He encounters the enigmatic Anime (played by Jenna Ortega, who is also one of the producers), who is in the audience, and they run off together. But we know that Anima is somewhat dangerous as, when we first see her, she is pouring gasoline all through a house before setting it alight. Anima feels a connection with the singer. She ties him up in a hotel room and confronts him, forcing him to tell the truth about the inspiration behind his lyrics which she feels a personal connection with.
Hurry Up Tomorrow explores themes of fame, obsession, twisted fandom, trauma, the impact of pop culture and celebrity, and the dark side of creativity and the arts. The film is part Play Misty For Me, part Misery, and part The Fan. Tesfaye himself conceived of the idea for the film in 2022 when he lost his voice during a concert and suffered from psychological stress as a consequence.
Tesfaye cowrote the script with director Trey Edward Shults (It Comes At Night, etc) and Riz Fahim (the creator of the HBO tv series The Idol), but it is something of a vanity piece for the singer. The film takes its title from his sixth studio album, and the soundtrack features many of his songs. There is also some footage of him in concert.
Hurry Up Tomorrow is made for the singer’s fans, but even they may struggle to connect with the meandering narrative. The film is at times self-indulgent and also visually ugly. It has been shot by cinematographer Chayse Irvin (Blonde, etc), who uses some tricky visual effects and lighting to heighten the disconcerting mood. He has also shot the film largely on 35mm but has also used different film stock and aspect ratios to create the visual aesthetic, which sometime has the look and feel of an extended music video. This gives the material a surreal visual quality that is evocative of the singer’s mental breakdown. He also uses long roving camera shots to bring a sense of momentum to the material. There is one shot which features The Weeknd wandering in a daze through completely deserted streets, which is eerie and unsettling.
Tesfaye has made his mark as a renowned singer having earned four Grammy awards and been nominated for both and Oscar and an Emmy. He makes his feature film acting debut here, although he has appeared in several music videos and the tv series The Idol, and he made a cameo appearance as himself in the 2019 Adam Sandler drama Uncut Gems. But his performance as the deeply flawed and tortured artist here reveals his limitations as an actor. Keoghan is largely wasted in a fairly thankless and underwritten role. Ortega fares better as the obviously damaged and dangerous Anima.
The whole thing is ultimately let down by the meandering narrative, and an ambiguous ending that raises questions about how much of the experience is real and how much is just a figment of the singer’s mind. Shults and co are not going to be giving us any easy answers.
Hurry Up Tomorrow is little more than a vanity piece for the singer, and is more of a triumph of style over substance. The film was shot two years ago but has struggled to find a distributor, which has resulted in this delayed release.
★★
