O

O (2001) is an American thriller directed by Tim Blake Nelson — watch it online on iFILM. Mekhi Phifer plays Odin James, the only Black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy and the kind of basketball star the school orbits around: trusted by the coach, loved by the dean's daughter Desi, respected by nearly everyone in the building.

Nearly. Hugo Goulding — played by Josh Hartnett — is the coach's son. His father's open admiration for Odin eats at him in a way he has learned to hide well. Hugo is patient and deliberate, and the lie he constructs around Odin and Desi, played by Julia Stiles, is built piece by piece until jealousy does the rest. Martin Sheen appears as the coach, oblivious to what his comparisons have set in motion.

Nelson transplants Shakespeare's Othello into a contemporary high school and earns the transposition — the machinery of manipulation doesn't need a castle to run. Hartnett gives Hugo a comprehensible interior, which makes the film considerably more disturbing than a stock villain would. Stream O (2001) online on iFILM.