
O’Dessa is directed by Geremy Jasper director of Patti Cake$ (2017).
O’Dessa is one of those films where you want to love badly but it’s next to impossible to ignore when it comes to the film’s major flaws, having that said I do think for the most part the film gets a lot right and is generally a solid time.
Sadie Sink is the major part of why the film works, she has a beautiful singing voice and her acting goes above and beyond. Her interactions with the rest of the cast is filled with passion, the scenes she shares with Kelvin Harrison Jr. are admittedly very cute and the chemistry between the two is charming enough. Sink sings a majority of the film’s songs and they are so well done and fit the mood of the scene they are in, the film’s main theme is probably my favorite of the songs she sung. It’s a nice blend of rock and opera (something the film really seems to not really go far enough on halfway through the film.)
Regina Hall is not given a whole lot to do here but she makes what she can of it and does a solid job, Kelvin Harrison Jr. works well with Sink as I said before but is also great on his own (he has a few solid songs here) and Murray Bartlett is just having a ball. Bartlett in particular has one song here called Onederworld that he sings with Emily Forsythe which is definitely the most unique of the songs and perhaps my favorite simply due to how bizarre and sudden it appears. Bartlett seems like he’s having the time of his life with this song, between his singing and dancing it’s a whole light show and an incredibly fun sequence that is easily one of the film’s highlights.
The music is overall quite great although I will say if you go into this movie expecting it to go all out with the rock opera premise you are going to be left disappointed. As fun as the songs are (some of them being even great), I don’t think a lot of these songs would be the first thing someone thinks of when they think “rock opera” there’s a touch of it in some songs but not enough to really say the film went for it. Despite that however I still do think the songs are fun, creative and have strong sequences attached to them plus they highlight the talent of the actors which is always a plus.
As far as atmosphere goes the film feels like a cross between Mad Max and The Hunger Games but with music sequences, at times it’s pretty creative especially when we get to see more of this film’s world, the visual style is genuinely exciting. With colors that match the apocalyptic punk feel the film is going for, plus the use of colors with the song sequences are fun to look at. The camerawork is focused and brings in some extra detail as well, for what the movie was going for with its punk rock opera theme I would say the film does a solid job look wise.
Storytelling wise there’s definitely some bumps in the road that do stop this one from being great mainly the romance, while Sink and Harrison Jr. do have cute moments and both act well together on screen. The romance plot is just not well developed and it takes a lot away from this movie, this is mainly during the middle portion meaning when the third act comes around the movie gets back up on its feet and delivers. But sitting through the second act with an incredibly generic romance plot is very frustrating because this could have easily been trimmed and just stops the movie dead in its tracks pacing wise.
Overall O’Dessa is still a fun ride and I do like the swings that were attempted here. It’s a film that could have done far more with its premise, but from what was presented here I say it’s a decent little movie with great performances and some truly exciting music!
O’Dessa releases tomorrow on Hulu
6/10 C+








