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The five-minute Odyssey

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve been reading and listening to many reviews of the Nolan film The Odyssey. The spread of opinions is extremely wide – everything from a great masterpiece to a piece of horse manure, with plenty in-between. The film is doing well at the box office, probably because so much controversy has been generated and perhaps because people are hungry for films that tackle larger themes than the usual.

I probably will write more about the film in another post, although I don’t think I’ll be seeing it. Despite my curiosity about what it looks like on the large screen, the reason I don’t think I’ll go is that almost every single reviewer mentions something that’s a deal-breaker for me: painfully loud music above dialogue that’s hard to hear. I find such a combination awful, even though I’m interested in the large-screen spectacle of a classic story. I might not like it, but I’m intrigued enough to want to make up my own mind. But not at the cost of painful ears and losing at least half the dialogue.

This post is not about that movie, though. This is about a short video I encountered along the way. It’s AI-generated, and despite that I think it’s very fine. It tells the story of the Odyssey in about five minutes, using classic artwork as its basis. From the description at YouTube:

The whole epic in one breath: the apple, the wrath, the horse, the wandering, the homecoming, the film revealed at last as a Bosch triptych swinging shut on a world in a glass sphere.

Ten years of war and wandering, told in one breath. This is the whole Odyssey compressed into a single unbroken descent — the apple rolling down a god’s banquet table, a thousand ships dissolving into Claude Lorrain’s gold, Achilles playing one note while the war burns without him, and the Cyclops rising out of Goya’s black. From the sack of Troy to the bag of winds, from Circe’s melting sailors to the shades spiraling out of Hades, every trial arrives as a living painting, then gives way to the next.

Five images carry the current all the way through: the eye, the orb, the fire, the sea, the thread. Watch for where they return — the apple that becomes a star, the wound that becomes an empty beach. It ends where all of it has been pointing: a beggar at his own gate, an old dog’s last recognition, a bed rooted in a living olive tree, and a triptych swinging shut on a world held inside a glass sphere.

The longest voyage in literature. One take. No landfall until the final frame.

And here it is:

Comments

The five-minute Odyssey — 35 Comments

  1. Thanks Neo. I, too, have listened to a lot of podcasts and came down on the side of I want to see it–until this morning when I listened to 12 minutes of a Catholic apologist making the case for not seeing it because of subtle, societal manipulation of the trans-issue (Ellen Page). He made really good points and his supportive material was jarring.

    But I have learned a lot more about the Odyssey then I knew before now and I’m glad about that.

  2. …the reason I don’t think I’ll go is that almost every single reviewer mentions something that’s a deal-breaker for me: painfully loud music above dialogue that’s hard to hear.

    That’s a very reasonable deal breaker. I agree. The other big problem I have is Matt Damon as Odysseus. I don’t hate him, but I think he is a rather dull knife pulled from the drawer. For three hours? No thank you. I would have preferred an unknown.

    He and Elliot Page are very politically correct choices. So even if this film is an example of Hollywood not being extremely PC (as some have said), they haven’t strayed very far.

  3. “loud music above dialogue that’s hard to hear”
    Thanks for the heads up, neo.
    I was going to buy a ticket to see it in a theater. Not now.

    And, thank you for the link to David Comfort’s film.

  4. > “loud music above dialogue that’s hard to hear”

    That’s pretty much every Nolan film.

    And it’s a major trend among all films and a lot of TV these days. It’s why a lot of people, including me, watch a lot of new stuff with subtitles on, whereas I never feel the need to do that with old movies and old TV shows, which I watch a lot of.

  5. I’ll say it again, the 1954 movie “Ulysses” starring Kirk Douglas in the titular role was and still is pretty good. Douglas was superb as Ulysses.

    Armand Assante also turned in a good performance as Odysseus in the 1997 TV miniseries. Unfortunately race-swapping reared its obnoxious head in the form of Vanessa Williams as Calypso. However, Bernadette Peters as Circe and Isabella Rossellini as Athena were perfectly cast.

    I’m scheduled to see Nolan’s movie Saturday night and I am not looking forward to it. But Mrs. Otter wants to see and I agreed (with some surliness) to go. Which will make her happy. And, as Odysseus himself might have said, “happy wife, happy life.”

  6. The video only tells the story if you already know it BUT since I did, I loved it!
    Even teared up a little at the embrace of Odysseus and Penelope.
    The animated artwork was very well done, and I recognized a few of the paintings, due to a childhood spent perusing my family’s copy of “Pictures of the Louvre.”
    Which I wish I still had.

    My big complaint was that I didn’t know what the Greek singers were saying in their very appropriate soundtrack, and then they ran the lyrics in the credits!

    I would love to see more from Threshold Cinema.

    Weird: there is an entry on my internet search results, but it goes to a website with no content!
    Threshold Cinema – YouTube
    Threshold Cinema makes films at the edge of what’s known. Three formats, one obsession: rigorous essays on the big questions in history and science, dramatized reconstructions of moments that …
    https://www.youtube.com/@threshold_cinema

    Watch this space?
    How did you find the video, Neo?

  7. My daughter suggested we go see it this weekend. I might take her up on that. The 3 hour thing…there’s a toilet break in there for sure… 😉

  8. AesopFan:

    I don’t remember how I found the video, but it had something to do with a tweet on X.

  9. dialogue that’s hard to hear.

    That was my take away from the trailers. Can’t anybody just talk these days? Gave me no desire to see the movie, but then, the last movie I saw was in 2012.

  10. dialogue that’s hard to hear.

    Can’t anybody just talk these days? — Charles RH

    I definitely have trouble with this. And while I don’t want to pick nits, I think the issue for actors and directors is rather more complicated. There is often quite a bit work, skill, and talent that goes into an actor’s dialog that both conveys the emotional content of the scene, as well as being very comprehensible.

    1) I have a friend who is a great singer and I was astonished to hear her sing all these classic songs where I could understand every single word. “My parents drilled me with enunciation classes as a kid” was her explanation. Wow. What a difference.

    2) I was watching an HBO series that’s some years old recently, and one of the stars is Colin Ferrell. He has a number of scenes where he is supposed to be drunk. The directors were having a fit that no one could understand what he was saying.

    3) With digital audio, we have this capability of a huge dynamic range. Another “toy” for directors and producers to play with. There is just too much dynamic range. This can be the worst when watching at home. Who wants deafening sound effects in their living room? Yes, you can spend a $1K give or take on an A/V receiver and fiddle with all the settings. Sigh.

  11. Hollywood seems to take the position that to get people to go to a movie theater, it has to be an immersive audio-visual spectacle, dialogue being secondary. And the younger generation seems to like really loud music, judging from my experience going to weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc., for example. I try to remember to bring ear plugs, and give up on having conversations.

  12. dialogue that’s hard to hear.

    So I am not the only one! Hearing in my left ear has been a tad weak for years (especially on women’s voices), but TV/DVD movies and some shows/series have been a pain also. I have a nice soundbar + 6″ sub or I can switch over to amp sound with 5 + 1 10″ sub, but certain movies and shows/series still have voice issues for me. I purchased some Digital Optical Audio Cable device with a loop thingie that has ear plugs hanging from it — that lets me hear the main speakers but aides in hearing the voices when needed…sorta a pain tho.

  13. I have reached the point where I can’t understand most people unless I can see their lips. Women’s voices are by far the worst. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned numerous times the captioning is poor to complete crap. Obviously, many of the captioners don’t know what the dialog is either.

    Example
    Twice in the Gregor Peck movie “ Captain Horatio Hornblower” the dialog is

    “Ship ahoy” followed by the officer of the deck saying “where away” meaning which direction. Twice, ship ahoy was followed by “fire away”. I heard where away correctly because that is what I was expecting. The captioner had no clue.

    I conclude much of my “hearing” is based on prediction of the next word.

  14. Mariner 2B Cole Young is often captioned as Kohl Jung and Texas 3B Josh Jung is captioned as Josh Young. Seahawks RB Zach Charbonnet is captioned so often as Chardonnay that is what I call him.

  15. Neo: thanks for finding and sharing the 6-minute “Odyssey” movie. Most impressive in many respects: great chanting/singing, evocative images, coherent narrative. It does not directly compete with Nolan’s production (which I just watched) but it both stands alone as a serious work, and helps us to critique/frame our view of Nolan’s work.
    …I wanted to like Nolan’s movie. Visually it was both stunning (yay IMAX) and finally a bit exhausted (how many vast skyscapes and rugged cliffs can one hope for?). Acoustically it was …muddy*… and it really hurts one’s immersive experience when one has to keep asking one’s moviegoing companion “What did s/he say?”

    *Muddy here may mean, they had to rescue the soundtrack from the acoustical frenzy of IMAX, because (so I am told) this was the first movie shot end to end with iMAX, and IMAX is one noisy system; so maybe they got the visuals they wanted, at the cost of getting the finer points of what was said.

    Anyway: great stuff. We are the better for these new attempts.

  16. IrishOtter

    “Ulysses” 1954 with Kirk Douglas is currently available on the free movie service, Tubi. That has been my favorite version that I remember as a kid. I am glad it is available for free.

    The Cyclops in the cave was terrifying for me when I first watched it.

  17. Nolan’s crappy sound is a choice.
    Copilot
    Why Actors Re?Record Dialogue (ADR) in Film and TV
    ADR — Automated Dialogue Replacement (also called Additional Dialogue Recording or “looping”) — is when actors re?record their lines in a controlled studio after filming, so the new audio can be perfectly synced to the original picture http://www.toosixmg.com+1.

    What ADR Is
    In ADR, the actor watches their on?screen performance on a large monitor and delivers the same lines again, matching lip?sync, timing, and emotional intent. The re?recorded audio is then edited into the final mix, often blending with the original production sound, foley, and music HowToFilmSchool+1.

    Why It’s Done
    Filmmakers and TV producers use ADR for several reasons:
    Noise issues: Production sound can be ruined by traffic, planes, wind, or other unpredictable background noise http://www.toosixmg.com+1.
    Technical problems: Microphone failures, boom shadows, or clothing rustle can make dialogue unclear HowToFilmSchool.
    Performance tweaks: Directors may want a different tone, pacing, or emotional delivery after editing http://www.toosixmg.com+1.
    Script changes: Reshoots, rewrites, or new lines require fresh recordings http://www.toosixmg.com+1.
    Localization/dubbing: Translating dialogue while keeping it lip?synced HowToFilmSchool.

    How It Works
    Spotting session: The director, editor, and sound supervisor review the cut to decide which lines need ADR HowToFilmSchool.
    Recording: Actors record in a sound booth, often with a “loop” system (digital or physical) that plays the scene repeatedly to match timing http://www.toosixmg.com+1.
    Syncing: Audio engineers align the new dialogue with the actor’s mouth movements frame?by?frame HowToFilmSchool.
    Mixing: ADR lines are blended with other sound elements to create a seamless soundtrack HowToFilmSchool.

    Famous Examples
    The Lord of the Rings trilogy: Heavy ADR to ensure clarity in outdoor battle scenes HowToFilmSchool.
    Goodfellas: Ray Liotta’s narration was recorded via ADR to match the film’s pace HowToFilmSchool.
    Star Wars: James Earl Jones’ voice for Darth Vader was recorded in ADR HowToFilmSchool.

    The Goal
    The aim is for the audience to never notice ADR has been used — the new dialogue should feel as natural and in?character as the original HowToFilmSchool+1.

    In short, ADR is both a technical fix and a creative tool, giving filmmakers control over sound quality and performance after the cameras stop rolling.

  18. The Pitch Meeting Guy makes fun of Nolan’s drowning out dialog with loud music:

    –Ryan George, “TENET Pitch Meeting” (Loud music scene cued up)
    https://youtu.be/t23ZEKqGHzs?t=240

    I’m not sure why but current movies often don’t seem to care whether you can hear the dialog properly (background too loud) or read the action visually (too dark, not enough contrast).

  19. Another bit of race-swapping in Nolan’s “Odyssey”:

    Travis Scott, a modern black rapper, plays a Homeric bard, perhaps even Homer himself. Scott also co-wrote the song over the closing credits.
    ______________________________________

    I cast [Scott] because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap.

    –Christopher Nolan
    https://time.com/article/2026/05/12/christopher-nolan-odyssey-interview/
    ______________________________________

    FU, Mr. Nolan, there are plenty of real poets and singer-songwriters who do their best to create in Homer’s higher vision of art. (Unfortunately most of them in our society are white.)

    As opposed to rap, an art form almost entirely dedicated to swaggering boasts about sex, drugs, and crime, with simplistic lyrics and music. As disposable as this season’s wallpaper.

    But I’m sure Scott was a good choice with an eye to the Academy Awards.

  20. IrishOtter49 on July 23, 2026 at 2:10 pm
    Are you saying that your wife placed you between Scylla and Charybdis?

    Chases Eagles on July 23, 2026 at 6:04 pm
    “I conclude much of my “hearing” is based on prediction of the next word.”
    And you probably also have the result or ability to “recover” [or discover] what you heard initially after a few seconds to consider the conext. Then the real wording becomes clear to you of what your wife or others have said. I find this to be the case with some of my wife’s expressions.

    In some ways, using ADR sounds like cheating, but I guess the artists get to decide what types of tools they will use to create their masterworks.

  21. Chases Eagles on July 23, 2026 at 6:04 pm
    “I conclude much of my “hearing” is based on prediction of the next word.”

    I spent my first year learning French working hard to hear French without much luck. French is one of the hardest languages to hear because the French don’t pronounce many letters and syllables plus they often move the final consonant to the front of the next word. C’est bizarre!

    I mostly stopped trying to hear French for the next two years and focused on reading. But now that I’ve got another couple million words read under my belt, I can hear French much better — because I know how words break and the likely next words.

  22. I have seen YouTubes of scenes before and after, where the before had all kinds of extraneous noises, footsteps, floor squeaks, etc. The original Star Trek had a lot of noise issues with the bridge set.

    Carrie Fisher supposedly flubbed many lines and swore when she did requiring cleanup in post production.

    My audiologist gave my wife a whole list of behavior changes to accommodate my deafness. A big one was don’t repeat the same thing over and over if I can’t understand, change the words. Also don’t change the subject without warning. I can mic her up and Bluetooth right into my hearing aids which can help at times but it can add a lot of annoying noises like mouse clicks.

    My annual retest is Monday so I will get an idea of further deterioration.

  23. Medical Examiner Who Corrupted Floyd Autopsy Examined Drowned Black Teen

    Although [Ben] Crump specializes in black teens—Martin Lee Anderson in 2006, Trayvon Martin 2012, Michael Brown 2014, Nolan Wells in 2026—Crump hit pay dirt with the death of George Floyd in 2020. It was on this case that his and Mitchell’s interests coincided. Crump wanted a payday. Mitchell wanted pre-election racial chaos. They both got what they wanted.
    […]
    Both [Dr. Roger] Mitchell and Crump should be in jail. Instead, at Crump’s direction, Mitchell is performing an independent autopsy on the politically useful Nolan Wells. Don’t be surprised if “neck compression” is in the final report. We haven’t had a good “social justice” uprising since the last time these two demons conspired in 2020.

    https://jackcashill.substack.com/p/me-who-corrupted-floyd-autopsy-examined

  24. Re: French language
    A name here in Washington (and Idaho) that people struggle with is Pend Oreille (county, river, and lake). “Ponderay” after Pend d’Oreilles Indians.

  25. Chases Eagles:

    I’ve lost a fair amount of high-frequency hearing. Soft high feminine voices are tough.

  26. I mentioned before that I provided the pictures that screwed the polluter in a clean water act lawsuit. The one where I got a threatening phone call that implied I was being observed through a sniper scope. At one point I was dealing with a local judge who mocked me like I was stupid when I told her I simply couldn’t understand her. Bitch.

  28. Nolan’s Odyssey is to Homer’s Odyssey as Disney’s recent Snow White is to the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White.

  29. A 20-something here at work saw it last night in 70mm IMax. I asked him how it was and the first thing he said was, really loud.

  32. @Chases Eagles:French language: A name here in Washington (and Idaho)

    Can be worse if you actually speak French. Friend of mine, not from around here, once got in a little trouble by pronouncing “Nez Perce” the way it would be pronounced in French. The French are not in charge of that name anymore; some big Nez Perce dudes let him know. Reasonably nicely.

  33. Mike Plaiss:

    And if a 20-something says it’s really loud, you know it’s REALLY loud.

  34. Update to my comment on July 23, 2026 at 1:46 pm:

    Well, I actually did go to see The Odyssey. It is being displayed in 70mm at the local single-screen movie theater 4 blocks from my home.

    1. It is hard to make the entirety of The Odyssey interesting in a motion picture. While some parts were interesting, overall the movie just plain dragged. Some of the casting is off-putting, but it not so much that the casting takes away from the movie watching experience.
    2. About the dialogue–I’m pretty damn sure there is something wrong with the dialog track even if there were no background music. Dialog throughout sounded fuzzy. The problem is not my hearing. All the dialogue in the coming attractions was clear.
    3. On the other hand, the background music and other background audio was overly loud – by a great deal. The bass frequencies were particularly boosted. All in all, The Odyssey is a 2 hour 50 minute aural barrage. I advise people of all ages to avoid the movie because of the real risk of hearing damage.
    4. I rate this movie a 4 on a scale of 0-10.
    5. I read full English translations of Homer’s The Illiad and The Odyssey in high school. That was a much more interesting experience than watching this movie.

  35. I saw it with my daughter last Friday and I thought it was excellent. Some parts of the film are exceptional. I give it 9/10.

    There are several Youtube channels I follow and trust when it comes to pop-culture. Most of them trashed the film based primarily on the trailers. There were a few reviewers who broke ranks and said it was very good to excellent with some flaws (casting, pacing, the last act). One reviewer rightly asked why the heck some colleagues were so negative *and* observed that when some conservative critics praised the film these colleagues did not change their stance but doubled down on their criticism.

    I still appreciate channels like Critical Drinker, Nerdrotic, Metatron, Doomcock, and so on, but yeah I think they were wrong.

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