In 2022, Sadie Sink saved her character from the Upside Down using one (completely omnipresent) Kate Bush song. Now, she’s playing a new character who enters the underworld armed only with an acoustic and 16 original songs of her own. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Sink stars as a farm-girl-turned-Elvis in O’Dessa, an original rock opera from writer-director Geremy Jasper (Patti Cake$). There’s a lot going on here, so without further ado, here’s the neon-lit trailer. If you like hair metal, Blade Runner 2049, and/or the musical Hadestown you might want to tune in.
“Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is an original rock opera about a farm girl on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom,” the film’s synopsis reads. “Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love—but in order to save his soul, she must put the power of destiny and song to the ultimate test.” While this may not be a one-to-one retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, the parallels are hard to miss. “My daddy used to tell me my singing had the power to bring light to the darkness and change things,” O’Dessa says at the beginning of the clip. It may even uproot an entire dictatorial enterprise.
The apocalyptic aspect of the story seems a bit more boilerplate. Murray Bartlett does his best Chris-Hemsworth-in-Furiosacosplay as Plutonovich, the torture-happy ruler of O’Dessa‘s corrupt empire. There’s also some The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakesimagery here as the simple farm girl with the lovely voice uses her guitar to strike at the foundations of a ridiculously clothed authoritarian society. But even if the parts are familiar, they do add up to something unique and intriguing in this trailer.
