Odyssey

Saw this at the Edinburgh International Film Festival which is a great place to see up-and-coming talent. Gerard Johnson's Odyssey is carefully staged... a first section with people talking over each other is (perhaps intentionally) annoying... so much so that when some music and visuals kick in it's like a warm bath, instant relief ... mirroring the protagonist's drug habit introduced at the same time (as well as creeping background segments of unease).

An Estate Manager, the protagonist, good at her job, owes a lot of people a lot of money. The action all occurs in a blood-soaked, beautifully filmed climax and you might think, what is there not to like? Odyssey (absolutely no relation to the Homeric classic) is well-constructed and scripted, but it's downfall is the over-long intro and a complete absence of any likeable characters.

The "Viking", a masterful Mr Fixit who appears only in the last third of the film, is exceptional characterisation, perfectly acted ... though by that time I was unfortunately a bit past caring...

Homer's Odyssey, its namesake, is the story of a skilled, good human being who goes through numerous trials to rise above his personal shortcomings and eventually triumph as the king of his country and his soul. Johnson's Odyssey is about a flawed, rather unlovable woman who increasingly goes downhill morally. It has so much to offer, yet at the end I felt the sum was rather less than the parts.