O'Dessa-An Underrated Masterpiece

    When I sat down to watch this film the other night with a friend all I knew was that it was about a farm girl, played by Sadie Sink (Stranger Things), who travels to a broken down city in a dystopian future in search of her father's guitar. But little did I know that I had no idea what I was really getting myself into. This movie is like if you took The Hunger Games and The Running Man (1987) and made them into a punk acid trip about fighting with the power of song instead of in an arena to the death. I know, wild right?                                  

    

    In full honesty, this movie is crazy. But that is exactly what it's meant to be. Not everything that is made these days is supposed to be an Oscar contender and that's okay. It's fine to have movies that are just entertaining and that is exactly what this movie is. Yeah it's crazy but it knows and fully embraces that. Yet I have seen many reviews criticizing this movie. Saying it's "all style and no substance" to claiming the "plot is all over the place" in that it never decided what it really wanted to be. While I can stand behind some of the nitpicking surrounding the plot, I must disagree with the rest. Yes this film is very visually stunning, but that does not take away from the story being told, it only enhances it. As for the plot, this movie knows exactly what it is: a musical romance about the power of love and the hope and light that music can bring into people's lives when they have all but given up in a dark and dreary world. And yes that kind of plot is going to inevitably create a cheesy, quirky, and sometimes all out odd film. But that does not make the film bad. On the contrary, if a plot like this is fully embraced within the story it only adds to the fun. Thankfully the one thing most people could agree on was the quality of the music, the key element to the film. 

    Thirteen original songs were composed and recorded for this film by Jason Binnick (Patti Cake$) and Geremy Jasper (Florence + The Machine: Dog Day Are Over (2010 version). Jasper also wrote the script for and directed the film. While Binnick and Jasper had worked together in the music department on previous projects, none of them had been quite like O'Dessa from the star-studded cast to the different styles of music interwoven throughout the film. From folk to rock to punk, they created songs for everybody. 

    While I will not be able to break down every song from the film, I will cover some of my favorites.This includes The Song (Love is All) and Ramblin' Down The Road. The first is a folk song about O'Dessa's destiny to save humanity through the music that flows through her veins and conveys the main message of the film: that there is NOTHING in this life is more powerful than love and the hope that music gives us to fight our way out of the darkness. Ramblin' Down The Road is another folk song O'Dessa sings on her way to the big city about following in the footsteps of her father and his father before him to bring hope to people with the music she sings by, you guessed it, ramblin' down the road.

    In order to avoid giving away anymore spoilers, I will tell you no more. Except to encourage you to check out this movie for yourself. If you are a fan of the power of music, The Hunger Games, Sadie Sink, or post-apocalyptic musicals then this movie is for you. Even if you don't like any of these things, I would still encourage you to watch this film because you just might be surprised. You never know, you might enjoy it. I know I did.