Sadie Sink Shines in Geremy Jasper’s Neon Rock Opera O’dessa – A Bold, Flawed Fantasy with Killer Style

Geremy Jasper debuts his latest film at SXSW after a legendary festival run with his debut feature Patti Cake$ in 2022. Though this film is sure to be far more divisive than his first, the differences don’t stop there. O’dessa is an effervescent rock opera that follows a young farm girl who journeys across a barren wasteland towards Satylite City, a dystopian metropolis led by an eccentric dictator named Plutonovich.

The movie is offbeat, playful, mythological, bright and colourfully textured with sparkling neon industrial cityscapes and effervescent grime. Packed with a ferociously vibrant colour palette and the costumes to match, Sadie Sink is truly magnificent, bringing powerful vocals to match her magnetic presence on screen.

The rock opera begins and ends with its most powerful numbers, letting some forgetful pieces fall prey to the murky waters of the second act. The film starts off as an epic quest and quickly abandons the premise for a stab at romance, exploring a relationship that transcends labels and identities—a triumphant leap for Disney, who has recently signed on as a distributor.

But Jasper sacrifices story for style in this neon dream, dragging its feet until we get to our unsurprising resolution. The film clearly pulls from tonal inspirations like Phantom of the Paradise with story devices that resemble Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man and Gary Ross’ The Hunger Games. Though it struggles to find its way as it meanders through its second and third acts, leaving us with a forgetful resolution despite the film’s powerful closing number Love is All.

Jasper directed, wrote the script and composed the music for O’Dessa, which is a tremendous feat, as there are some seriously impressive pieces performed by Sink in this film. Though, at times they lack the heart required to lead us through this neon revolution. Murray Bartlett is outstanding as Plutonovich, an eccentric dictator who plays like an evil Caesar Flickerman, hosting his own deadly game show in search of The One. Enter O’Dessa Galloway, the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, armed with an old six string and a dream.

Watch the trailer for O’dessa below

O’DESSA is streaming exclusively on Disney+ in Canada March 20th.

[Review by guest blogger Jurgen Sosa the Part Time Binger]