2025 SXSW World Premiere – Visions
March 9, 2025
Directed by Gerard Johnson
Starring:
Polly Maberly, Guy Burnet, Mikael Persbrandt, Jasmine Blackborow,
Ryan Hayes, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Kellie Shirley
Produced by:
John Jencks and Isabel Freer (Electric Shadow Company)
Matthew James Wilkinson and Patrick Tolan (Stigma Films)
Natasha Flynn (Polly Maberly) is a coke-fueled London real estate agent who hides her crumbling life behind luxury – flashy clothes, a posh loft apartment, and endless champagne – while just below the surface things are beginning to unravel. When loan sharks offer cash to hide a kidnapped agent, she’s dragged into London’s seedy underworld, leading to a bloody, chaotic showdown.
Odyssey is a dark, disturbing comic journey into the bleakest recesses of humanity. Set against the backdrop of the contemporary housing crisis and the cutthroat world of capitalism and corporate greed, the film draws on the occult and cult European horror to stylish and unnerving effect. As Natasha’s seemingly glossy life devolves into a spiraling mess of broken dreams and desperation, the film switches out the lens normally used to capture a woman’s experience in a male dominated world, and opens the aperture to reveal that toxic masculinity is not just for the boys.
Polly Maberly (Muscle) leads an exciting cast that also includes Guy Burnet(Oppenheimer), Mikael Persbrandt (Oscar winner In A Better World, Netflix’s “Sex Education”), Charley Palmer Rothwell (Legend, Dunkirk) and Purab Kohli (Matrix Resurrections).
Odyssey is directed by Gerard Johnson, and written by Johnson and Austin Collings. Johnson’s first feature film was the underground cult hit-thriller, Tony, which premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival and released theatrically in the U.S. by Revolver Entertainment. His next film, Hyena, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was picked up for U.S. distribution by Tribeca Films. Johnson’s third feature, Muscle, had its world premiere at the London Film Festival and was nominated for the prestigious Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs).
Odyssey is produced by John Jencks (The Crow) and Isabel Freer (Name Me Lawand) for Electric Shadow Company, and Matthew James Wilkinson (Amulet and Yesterday) and Patrick Tolan for Stigma Films.
The film also features a pulsating soundtrack by singer-songwriter and composer Matt Johnson, founding member and lead singer of the acclaimed English rock band, The The.
