‘O’Dessa’ and the Trouble with Tropes

Directed by Geremy Jasper, “O’Dessa” is a straight-to-streaming sap-fest that takes itself too seriously.

Set in a dystopian future where rainbow-hued plasma pollutes the sky, the film follows Sadie Sink as the titular dirt farmers’ daughter, O’Dessa. After constant exposure to toxic dirt and air kills her mother, O’Dessa burns down her home and hits the road with nothing but her late father’s mystical guitar.

Yep — “O’Dessa” isn’t just a post-apocalyptic romantic drama, it’s also a musical.

While on the road, O’Dessa encounters a ragtag band of harmonica players and fire-breathers who get her drunk and steal her guitar. Aiming to recapture the heirloom, she stows away on a train headed for Satylite City — one of the last outposts of civilization, ruled by the hypnotic TV show host Plutonovich.

While navigating the city’s lecherous nightclubs, O’Dessa’s search collides her with Euri, a singer who’s dating Plutonovich’s main henchwoman, Neon Dion.

Sink (“Stranger Things,” “The Whale”) successfully flaunts a varied vocal portfolio, from the soft, sky-high notes of “Ramblin’ Blues” to the yodeling glottal stops of “Feelin’ Free.” But the film doesn’t find harmony between the tinny studio music and the real, ragged environment of its setting, resulting in an uncomfortable clash of autotune and authenticity.

Characters liberally apply the word “rambler” to O’Dessa and her father — the so-called “king of the ramblers.” Unfortunately, the film isn’t nearly as riveting as the Loyola Ramblers’ rise in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Euri falls flat in his attempt to capture an aura of mystique. In one instance, he makes a bizarre reference to Italian auteur director Federico Fellini’s “8½,” reciting the film’s nonsense phrase “asa nisi masa” but changing the last word to “masi” for no apparent reason. 

Later, in what’s supposed to be a climactic scene of Dion capturing O’Dessa, he delivers a “leave her alone” so impassive it’s almost comedic.

The lack of depth carries over to the film’s treatment of gender and sexuality. Early on, O’Dessa cuts off her braids, favoring a more masculine cut, and embraces a low, gravelly voice. In contrast, Euri dons a leopard print fur coat, neon pink earrings and an electric blue buzz cut, and he only performs with a near replica of the signature fringed leather mask worn by Orville Peck — an outspoken gay singer.

O’Dessa, Euri and their shared romance flips gender expectations, even staging a wedding with her in a white tuxedo and him with a lacy veil, but there’s no actual commentary. Okay, a man wears earrings and has blue hair — so what? The film doesn’t answer.

Characters fall into easy cliches. A skeevy, pervy priest makes moves on Euri, feeding into the gay-men-are-predators stereotype — made worse by the film’s attempt to critique gender roles. Dion teeters on the edge of the “angry Black woman” trope and lacks any tangible character development.

Twangy accents and tepid interpretation of Americana make “O’Dessa” a hollow, harrowing watch. The soundtrack tries to capture the grit and grime of folk and blues, but lacks grit and grime, instead sounding overproduced and forgettable.

Cold War-era cliches dominate “O’Dessa.” The film’s shooting locations in Croatia, the brainwashing villain’s Slavic-sounding name and shallow reverence of rock and roll make the film oddly anti-Soviet — even though the USSR dissolved more than 30 years ago.

This isn’t helped by Sink’s association with “Stranger Things,” which similarly stumbles over anti-communist tropes.

Not even crystal clear production can salvage the film. Camera movement is rarely consistent, at times jumpy and jerky, at others stiff and steady. While well-crafted visual effects, like the fantastically colored plasma oozing from the dirt farm to Satylite City, are ultimately just window dressing.

There’s a world where “O’Dessa” works as a campy stage musical. The film’s flamboyant costumes, superficial gender-bending and anvil-dropped messages are desperate for the cheeky drag show treatment. Unfortunately, it’s not even the kind of so-bad-it’s-good film worthy of hate-watching — it’s just bad.

“O’Dessa” will be available to stream on Hulu March 20.