Movie Review: O’Dessa – Struggles to Strike the Right Chord
Genre: Musical
Director: Geremy Jasper
Starring: Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Regina Hall
Release Date: 3/20/2025
Platform: Hulu
Rating: 1/5
By Stephen Lackey
“O’DESSA wants to be Flash Gordon, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Phantom of the Paradise, but it wasn’t meant to be.“
O’DESSA premiered at the SXSW Film Festival to an eager crowd, hyped by the promise of a post-apocalyptic rock opera. Unfortunately, what unfolded on screen was far from what was anticipated. The film is the result of a decade-long labor of love by writer/director Geremy Jasper, who not only crafted the script and composed all the songs but also took the helm behind the camera. With a background in directing music videos for artists like Florence + the Machine, Selena Gomez, and La Roux, Jasper seemed like the ideal choice to bring a modern rock opera to life. Yet, despite his vast experience in the music industry, O’DESSA struggles to capture the magic it promises.
O’Dessa, played by Sadie Sink, is a young woman who dreams to be a wanderer, like her father before her, traveling from town to town playing music. When she finally leaves her family’s dirt farm, a priceless family heirloom is stolen, and the plot shifts to O’Dessa on the hunt to retrieve the item. The journey brings her to a dystopian city where inhabitants are controlled by reality game shows created by an evil ruler, who gives over the top cult leader vibes. After a brief time in the town, O’Dessa meets the love of her life leading into an awkward romance. There’s also a chosen one subplot, as she is the ‘Seventh Son’ chosen to save the world.
Obviously, this movie has a lot going on, and it never builds any depth to any of these plot elements. Every story beat feels like an excuse to get O’Dessa to the next set piece and the next song. The relationship between O’Dessa and Euri, played by Kelvin Harrison Jr., never feels earned, and the chemistry between the actors gives more friendship than romance. Likewise, every other story thread has no depth or merit. It’s all just there in brevity.
Clearly, Jasper was focused more on crafting the musical numbers than the script, and even that aspect doesn’t deliver as promised. The first act of the film features some generic sounding House of the Rising Sun knock-off folk music with limited choreography. If the movie were taking a Luke Skywalker approach, building of power, building up to the rock music approach, this first act would have made sense. The movie does not take that logical route though. There are a few numbers that add different instrumentation, but they never hit the level of expectation created by calling the film a “rock opera”. The melodies and chord progressions play around the classic song House of the Rising Sun way too often from the beginning to end of the film. This would all matter a lot less if the songs resonated, but they unfortunately do not.
The overall production is also uninspired. The dystopian sets often amount to colored LED lights and offensive color grading. The movie can’t make up its mind on what story it wants to tell, and the sets follow suit by having little tonal consistency.
Regina Hall is a highlight giving the movie a shot in the dark, but she has far less screentime due to being only the big bad guy before the bigger bad guy. Hall was fantastic as an antagonist, and hopefully we’ll see more of villainous roles from her in the future. Sadie Sink’s accent in this film is rough, but she does have a beautiful singing voice. Sink comes from a musical theater background and it’s evident she has musical talent. It’s just unfortunate she’s never given anything good to sing.
O’DESSA wants to be Flash Gordon, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Phantom of the Paradise, but it wasn’t meant to be. To be one of those campy musical classics, you have to make a musical that inadvertently fits the bill. Trying too hard to be one of them rings false. O’DESSA teases commentary on the power of music, classism, love and the influence of media, but it never goes beyond teasing commentary about these timely topics. In fact, the movie teases being a fun rock opera, but again, it’s just a tease.
