‘Odyssey’ Review – A Frantic Spiral Into London’s Criminal Underworld [SXSW 2025]

The criminal underworld of London is a subject that has been often explored, many times through a quippy, humorous lens by the likes of Guy Ritchie. Gerard Johnson’s Odyssey, which had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival, takes a more dark and serious approach to this unseen world that is quite unsettling. The film follows Natasha Flynn (Polly Maberly) as an up-and-coming estate agent who dives deeper and deeper into the dark side of London as she desperately attempts to grow her business. 

Flynn is your classic workaholic, never removing her long earpiece so she’s always connected to what’s happening. She’s wheeling and dealing 24/7, barely taking a break to eat or have a normal conversation with a coworker. Maberly’s performance carries the film to a height greater than the sum of its parts, with an increasingly hateable character that will make your blood boil. Despite this unlikability, you can’t argue that she’s one hell of a salesperson. The opening scenes show her masterfully selling couples on pretty average apartments, tailoring each room to their reactions to the last. It’s a wonder to watch, and her new employee Dylan Rose (Jasmine Blackborow) shows us just how difficult it can be as she falters when Flynn lets her take the lead on an apartment tour.

As the film progresses, we discover that Flynn’s business dealings may not exactly be above board, and it seems like she owes money to someone at every turn. Her increasing desperation moves the plot along as we follow her into deeper circles of the criminal underworld. This throughline often aligns with actual criminal activity like gambling or drugs, but for Flynn, it’s just taking loans from the wrong people and not paying them back. She thinks she can talk her way out of everything, constantly scheming to save money or postpone payment of something. There’s a great scene where she takes Dylan Rose to lunch and throws a huge tantrum to get out of having to pay for the lunch herself. In these scenarios, she can weasel her way out, but that behavior is bound to catch up to someone. 

Odyssey draws some parallels to films from the Safdie brothers, particularly Uncut Gems, with its frenetic filmmaking style and a main character who keeps digging themselves into deeper and deeper holes. The panicked filmmaking style utilizes handheld cameras and unique lenses that blur the outer edges of the frame, forcing an uncomfortable intimacy with Flynn and those she encounters. The camera gets closer and closer to her face throughout the film as the rest of the world is closing in around her. These techniques give the story and images a level of depth that could be lost with a more straightforward approach. Hats off to cinematographer Korsshan Schlauer for creating incredible images with these techniques and contrasting the dreariness of London with bright yet solemn neon tones as Flynn’s descent continues. 

Gerard Johnson’s crime thriller is a great exploration into what obsession mixed with desperation can bring someone to do, and there’s a lot more to this movie that I’ve tried not to spoil above. The film brings an interesting approach to the crime thriller, utilizing a protagonist not necessarily associated with the world but whose heart aligns more with the criminals than with her business and personal life. Maberly’s performance is utterly brilliant as she fully commits to each increasing level of insanity asked of her. There is not much on offer by way of the supporting performances, and it seems most of them exist just for Maberly to bounce off of rather than having much development or life themselves. Even so, there is a lot to recommend in Odyssey, and it is well worth watching for Marberly’s performance and the cinematography alone.

Odyssey held its World Premiere as part of the Visions section of the 2025 SXSW TV & Film Festival. 

Director: Gerard Johnson

Screenwriters: Gerard Johnson, Austin Collings

Rated: NR

Runtime: 110m