By Mark Fields
Quirky Post-Apocalyptic Musical Hit or Miss
If you were going to create a post-apocalyptic folk musical, such as O’Dessa, you could do worse than build it around emerging star Sadie Sink. The young supporting player from the Stranger Things universe (she plays redheaded Max) possesses an appealing blend of moxie and vulnerability that is well-suited to this quirky story of the redemptive power of love and music.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that the creator of this movie – Geremy Jasper (PattiCake$), who wrote the screenplay, penned the song lyrics, AND directed – chose not to delegate some of those responsibilities to others. O’Dessa plays like a labor of love badly in need of some independent perspective.
The cinematic fable is set in a devastated world ruled – dominated really – by a despotic albeit charismatic ruler whose constant presence on everyone’s TV screens keeps the populace under his hypnotic control. O’Dessa, an aspiring musician from the hinterlands, comes to the big city with a legendary guitar to carry on her family’s powerful musical legacy. There she meets and falls for Euri (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a cabaret singer/dancer. O’Dessa also encounters ruler/uber-emcee Plutonovich (Murray Abraham) and his cruel henchwoman Neon Deon (Regina Hall). Will O’Dessa be able to overcome the many obstacles in her path to fulfill her cosmic destiny? Well, what do you think?
This theme of manipulation via omnipresent entertainment is one of many potentially interesting (and timely) ideas that could have benefitted from a more thoughtful screenplay. It also would have been great to have developed fuller characters so that their challenges have more impact on the viewer. Instead, we get a muddle of half-finished ideas and catchy but too similar songs struggling to propel the story forward. The whole enterprise never rises beyond the stage of “wouldn’t that be cool?!”
Abraham, Hall, and Harrison all have the capability of being dynamic presences on the screen, and there are flashes here and there but nothing that is sustained. Only Sink manages to overcome the story and music’s weaknesses to deliver a compelling performance. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of her throughout the mess around her. I hope that the actress will eventually find material truly worthy of her gifts.
Official Trailer
