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‘Lurker’ Review: A Geek Edges Himself Into a Pop Star’s Inner Circle in Alex Russell’s Nifty and Unnerving Parable of the Pathology of Fame


In a nifty little parable of the pathology of fame, Théodore Pellerin is startling as a celebrity hanger-on who will do anything it takes to hang on.

It tells the story of Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a nobody who works in one of those bare-bones L.A. clothing boutiques, and how he insinuates himself into the inner circle of Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a budding pop star who has legions of screaming fans but is trying to leap to the next level. But Alex Russell, the writer-director of “Lurker,” works with a jittery cell-phone-camera aesthetic that makes the entire movie a mirror of what it’s about: the fleeting I-shoot-a-video-of-myself-therefore-I-am celebrity that’s become the coin of the realm in the Instagram era. It’s all happening, spiraling forward of its own accord — at least, until they’re shooting a video for one of Oliver’s songs with sheep in a barnyard, and the official documentary dude (Daniel Zolghardri) who Matthew has been working with runs out of camera juice and suddenly can’t find his spare batteries.

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