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Drake's new OVO ads look like outtakes from a psychological thriller

Drake's new OVO ads look like outtakes from a psychological thriller

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As we all know, Drake was an actor before he was a rapper, and it seems like maybe he's getting back to his roots. In a series (two so far) of new ads for his OVO merch store, Drake tells a story without ever saying anything. The ads look like the start of a horror movie, maybe a psychological thriller, in which the hero becomes the villain, or the man has been missing the entire time, or everything is a dream. Each clip is only a few seconds long, but those few seconds tell a dark, dark story: despair will befall Drake, but not before the sweat lining his brow turns to a cold slick of fear.

Here's the story. Drake plays a young investment banker. (It's a cliché role, but one that was well suited to Drake and didn't require him to wear a wig, so he took it.) He's just purchased a six-figure home in the upstate part of somewhere, maybe California. Maybe Minnesota. Maybe New Mexico. In any case, this mansion, with floor-to-ceiling windows kept so clean you can see lightning strike four states away, was previously owned by a good friend of Drake. This good friend was also a wildly successful investment banker, perhaps the most successful investment banker (a lonely title), until he disappeared. Rumors circulated that his demise had been orchestrated by several members of a highly organized cult. Others said he had gradually become a recluse, until the pressures of society became too heavy to bear, even for an hour at a time. Some said he was still around, but he was waiting. These people never elaborated on what he was waiting for.

This is the set-up of the film, one in which you would assume, given the description so far, that this "friend" will return in some way later in the movie. Well, that I can't tell you.

The climax of the movie comes when Drake decides to go on a journey to find his friend, propelled by a series of obscure clues he starts to discover nestled in the crevices of his life. He finds the driver's license of a man whose name turns out to be an anagram of his friend's. He finds the shape of his friend's nostrils fossilized in the fog on his car windows. He finds socks made only for right feet. I can't give it all away here, but these clues lead Drake to the edge of an ocean (any ocean) where the weight of his past truths lead to a discovery.

At the end of the movie, after all has been revealed, a Philip Glass cover of "Hotline Bling" plays softly until the screen fades to black.