THE STORY – A farm girl embarks on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom in the post-apocalyptic future. Her journey soon leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love. However, in order to save his soul, she must put the power of destiny and music to the ultimate test.
THE CAST – Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall & Pokey LaFarge
THE TEAM – Geremy Jasper (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 106 Minutes
On paper, Geremy Jasper’s dystopian rock odyssey “O’Dessa” has plenty of potential to strike a powerful chord. The genre-bending original screenplay, written by Jasper, teases everything from romance and sci-fi to Western and, of course, musical. The visual style teases a dynamic world where neon hues swirl underneath post-apocalyptic wastelands. Inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the cosmic story teases heartfelt themes that resonate in reality, whether through characters exploring self-identity, navigating power disparity, or demonstrating love as a profound motivator. As voiced in the film, there’s nothing more powerful in this life than love. For “O’Dessa,” there’s nothing more powerful than music. It has a unique energy and strong emotionality on a musical level, as the songwriting and performances stand out more than any other element. But the film plays too many off-key notes when attempting to expand on characters and themes beyond the shiny surface. “O’Dessa” teases moments of fervent greatness but doesn’t cohesively deliver on its ambitious concept.
The story follows farm girl O’Dessa Galloway (Sadie Sink), who lives a seemingly ordinary life with her mother, Calliope (Bree Elrod). The film begins with both characters singing while on the cusp of two different life journeys: destiny and mortality. After Calliope’s death, O’Dessa unearths a family heirloom in the form of a special guitar. O’Dessa’s father, Vergil (Pokey LaFarge), had used that same guitar on the road when he left his family to follow his passion. The guitar takes on a new power in the hands of O’Dessa, who now has a tool to express herself and explore her unique voice, independent from familial ties. In the journey to fulfill her destiny as “the Seventh Son,” O’Dessa stumbles into a post-apocalyptic place called Satylite City, ruled by maniacal tyrant/talent show host Platonovich (Murray Bartlett) and enforced by crime boss Neon Dion (Regina Hall). In the thick of this cruel world, O’Dessa falls for rockstar Euri Dervish (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), and the two fight back in the name of love.
The film sets an intriguing tone early on and attempts to build anticipation with its opening rock & roll number, “Here Comes the Seventh Son.” It’s an exciting showcase for Sadie Sink, whose vocal range is impressive and full of heart. The film teases plenty of promising elements without delivering on any of them. However, at least the musical sequences are consistently entertaining, even if each plays more like a music video than part of one cohesive narrative. “Here Comes the Seventh Son” is just the beginning of a passionate soundtrack full of varied musical styles, all of which Sink wonderfully delivers. Her passion for the character and commitment to the vision carries the film’s uneven storytelling, which is an absolute blessing, particularly in the disorientating second act.
Former musician Geremy Jasper attempts to cobble together a distinctive world in Satylite City. It’s an industrial fever dream with neon highlights, auto-tune nightmares, and a delirious Murray Bartlett, who plays in the vein of Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman in “The Hunger Games.” Jasper pulls from this dystopian world, as he does the kinetic energy from “The Fifth Element” and “Mad Max.” “O’Dessa” still has some personality, particularly in the music by Jasper and Jason Binnick, in addition to the production design by Scott Dougan. The film undoubtedly operates on a wildly energetic wavelength. However, the scattered visuals lack the precision to make a distinctive mark. Additionally, a lot of the world-building (and character development, for that matter) gets lost in disjointed editing.
The screenplay especially leaves much to be desired, as it throws a lot of creative material to the wall and tries to make do with what sticks. Sink does her best to rise above the material and is helped by her character’s journey, which is often bookmarked by compelling musical sequences. The supporting cast does their best to shine with the genre-bending vision but isn’t given compelling enough journeys to reach the interiority of their characters beyond what they represent thematically. Harrison Jr. and Sink don’t get the time to build on their romantic chemistry; the lapses in writing undermine the power of O’Dessa and Eurie connecting through musical expression. There’s also an interesting dynamic between Harrison Jr. and Hall about the commodity of music that goes largely underexplored. For instance, when Eurie’s musical sound begins to change out of his inspiration from O’Dessa, Neon Dion can immediately tell, bringing forth a conflict that the film rushes through. While Hall adds playfulness to her villainous role and Harrison Jr. excels at bringing great screen presence, both are let down by an unfocused script.
“O’Dessa” may strike frequent chords about the power of love as a motivator, but the film works best as a demonstration of how powerful music can be. Whether finding one’s voice, sharing artistic expression, or inspiring a new generation of creatives (which the story does introduce in a background character but frustratingly glosses over), “O’Dessa” hits some energetic musical notes. However, the film wrestles with too many competing ideas to find a coherent enough footing.
