Tommy’s Odyssey: On Finding Yourself Upon Finding A Family

Zach Radford’s sex comedy-drama Tommy’s Odyssey follows its eponymous protagonist into an escapist fantasy world of friendship, care, and of course, sex. Running to twenty-eight minutes, it features an ensemble of outcasts and misfits who have made their home in a pocket universe created by their de facto leader. How well this Neverland can nurture Tommy is a question that makes the distinction between the structure of this stowaway world and its people.

The writing shines in patches, especially in the more comedic bits. Radford plays Richard, an extravagant, bombastic sort of character, one of the trio who welcomes Tommy (Gabriel Bergeron) into the young man’s new world. Tommy is a high school teenager, bullied by his peers and ignored by his mother (Esther Brzeziniski). When he, dejected and horny, kisses up his bedside poster of Ana de Armas, the act seems to launch him into a pocket world which exists exclusively for those who are not welcome in regular reality.

Mona (Micheline Chartier, who also plays She-Wolf and Virginia the devirginiser) and Jay (William Whitty), when you first meet them, appear like the cool parents/rulers of this utopia Jay created. Contented, kind, magnanimous, they show Tommy around. Mona even looks out for him. Tommy himself is a compassionate, sensitive boy, but otherwise too withdrawn to express much of a personality. It allows him to be something close to a fly on the wall, walking around this strange new world of orgies and parties in poorly furnished, RGB lit rooms. It is, in essence, a frat boy’s idea of paradise.

The drama and conflicts emerge from questions of stability. Is Jay’s creation stable? Is Mona and Jay’s relationship stable? Most importantly, is Tommy’s place stable? Each question influences the others, tangling and unspooling expectations and assumptions until an implosion seems imminent.

The college-aged Neverland of Tommy’s Odyssey simultaneously offers adventure and care, a guided tour through rites of passage for Tommy (and a few laughs in the process for the audience). At the end of the hero’s journey, Tommy must decide for himself if his great adventure changed him enough. It’s the question at the heart of all coming-of-age stories, after all.

Watch Tommy’s Odyssey Short Film Trailer