Actress Jenna Ortega as Anima in a scene from Hurry Up Tomorrow.Andrew Cooper/Lionsgate/Lionsgate
Hurry Up Tomorrow
Directed by Trey Edward Shults
Written by Trey Edward Shults, Abel (the Weeknd) Tesfaye and Reza Fahim
Starring Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan
Classification 14A; 105 minutes
Opens in theatres May 16
In the penultimate scene of the psychological thriller Hurry Up Tomorrow, the camera is tight on the face of a frightened, bed-bound Abel Tesfaye as he shakily sings the song of the same name. Co-star Jenna Ortega watches over him, her face a fascinating portrayal of thrill and sadness.
Though it is a gripping moment in a surreal film that could use a few more of those, the scene drags. Three minutes for a pop song on the radio goes by lickety-split. In a film, it can be an eternity.
Pacing is a big problem with Hurry Up Tomorrow, which stars Canada’s Tesfaye in his feature film debut as a version of his pop superstar persona, the Weeknd. It is a slow-moving, self-insistent and exhausting trip. The end can’t come soon enough.
The plot spoiler is that there is not much plot to be spoiled. Tesfaye plays a version of the Weeknd, an emotionally wounded singer who loses his voice on stage owing to psychological stress. His existential crisis isn’t helped by Ortega’s Anima – an arson enthusiast who shares his mommy issues and takes fandom to Kathy Bates/Misery level.
This is not entertainment in a traditional sense. It is more an eye-acting exhibition and a moody music video with cinematic ambitions.
Director and co-writer Trey Edward Shults’s task was to flesh out the Weeknd’s 2025 song and album Hurry Up Tomorrow. Either he or Tesfaye or both seemed to have made a conscious choice to make a psychedelic film for something other than mass consumption.
I attended a sneak-preview “fan screening.” When the 105-minute experience ended, one puzzled woman in front of me turned to her seatmate and described the movie with one phrase: that was something. Thank you, madam, for nailing it.
The film serves as a companion piece to an album inspired by a real-life incident at a 2022 concert at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Weeknd was forced to stop the show when he lost his voice.
That recreated moment in the film sends the singer into deep turmoil. I never would have realized it without having read the program notes provided by the film’s distributor, but the Weeknd/Tesfaye character is apparently plagued by insomnia. Certainly, he lives a nocturnal existence.
Actress Jenna Ortega as Anima and Abel (the Weeknd) Tesfaye as Abel in a scene from Hurry Up Tomorrow.Andrew Cooper/Lionsgate/Lionsgate
His manager, played by Ireland’s Barry Keoghan, is a right tool. Oblivious to the singer’s emotional emergency, he supplies him with cocaine and cough syrup. Anybody familiar with Keoghan’s performance in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin knows the actor has talent. I was expecting more from him here. There goes that dream.
Though Hurry Up Tomorrow is anything but a traditional film, it doesn’t avoid the trope in which the troubled rock star eludes the controlling manager. After Anima meets the singer backstage, he escapes with her for an adventure of much needed anonymity − he wears a mask for a night out at an amusement park − and luxury hotel room sex.
These are two profoundly broken people who together, unfortunately, do not add up to one movie.
Chayse Irvin’s cinematography is hallucinatory, but not enough to hold attention. Daniel Lopatin’s frenetic score is an adrenalin needle to a corpse.
In one way or another, Tesfaye has been telling this story of toxic relationships and inner unrest through the Weeknd his whole career. He has hinted that he would be putting the stage persona to rest. If this film is any indication, it needs to happen tomorrow.
