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72 reviews in total

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53 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
achingly good, 3 November 2003

Author: simonrosenbaum from New Malden, England

This is one of those films you can really lose yourself in. A woman is reminiscing about a time in the early seventies when she was 12 years old and her father was struck down with a bad dose of depression. First thing you notice is the amazing colours of New Mexico, the photography is stunning. Then there's the acting by Joan Allen, Sam Elliott and especially Valentina de Angelis which is sublime. The story is simple but heartbreaking and ocassionally very funny. When the film ends, like waking up after a beautiful dream, you'll long to keep that magical feeling for as long as possible. Not to be missed! (9/10)

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50 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Sweet Salve for the Soul, 17 March 2003

Author: Marnielover from Chicago, Illinois

"Off the Map" is an "old-fashioned" film that made me feel, in the immortal words of Frank Zappa, that it's f*cking great to be alive. This film took me to a place in my heart I haven't been since the wonderful Bill Forsyth ("Local Hero") faded from the movie-making scene. It is high time for humane, gentle, wholly original stories of people and places off the map (or in our technological dystopia, perhaps `off the radar screen' would be more appropriate) to fill our movie dreamscape again. New Mexico is the only place in the United States this could have been filmed because, indeed, only the Land of Enchantment could have fit this gorgeous, lyrical story so well.

There wasn't a single relationship in this film that wasn't unique and fully realized. We've seen these set-ups before: the school-girl crush of Bo for William Gibbs, the awe-inspired worship of William for Arlene, the friendship between Charley and George. But don't we always get the caricatures, the popcorn images that point out the woeful arrested development of our country and its mythmakers? We think we want to be young forever. But it takes a film like "Off the Map" to show us all the richness we're missing out on by not growing up. (And the casting and direction of this ensemble of actors was nothing short of genius, especially Joan Allen. It's nice someone can see her as something more than middle-class white bread and pull this very individualistic performance out of her.)

I'm feeling kind of emotional just thinking about some to the great scenes in this film: when Charley runs 20 miles to George's house and goads him into wrestling; when Charley and William talk about what it feels like to be depressed; when William watches Arlene standing naked in her garden watching the totemic coyote; when Bo extracts from George the information she needs to apply for a MasterCharge card; Arlene reading Bo's letter in the newspaper advice column; Bo thanking the squirrel for giving up its life to feed her and her family; George's presence, like an old pair of sneakers, in the Groden home.

Like I said before, I didn't think people made films like this anymore. Thank you, Campbell Scott, for proving me wrong.

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38 out of 44 people found the following review useful:
Completely Original & Mesmerizing, 14 March 2005

Author: kfitzfake from United States

This movie just blew my mind!! Let me start by quoting some of the review in LA Weekly:

From beginning to end, the movie achieves nearly complete originality of expression that makes it as anomalous a figure on today's independent film landscape as the film's characters are on theirs. Sequestered on a ranch deep in the recesses of rural New Mexico, a part-Hopi woman (Joan Allen), her catatonic depressed husband (Sam Elliot) & their precocious 11-year old daughter (Valentina de Angelis) live off the land...

The characters rarely do what we expect of them, while tragedy, absurdity and mordant humor are held in a precarious balance that recalls Sam Shepard at his best...

The ocean meets the sky in a cycloramic mural that, like the movie itself, is a small masterpiece of tone and form. To watch Off the Map is to be pulled into a private universe on the brink of civilization--from which, at the end of two hours, it is impossible to exit unaffected.

This is too true. Half the audience sat through all the credits & then sat for a long few minutes more, just unable to move. For the second time in a week--1st was after Dear Frankie--I was walking the beach for an hour working off feelings stirred up by a film. I don't usually react this way!!

Some more observations from me:

Acting: Joan Allen has GOT to get an Oscar nomination for this! She's excellent throughout, but there's one scene you will never forget: She's hoeing the garden nude with a floppy hat standing like a statue. I won't say more, but what you think is going on isn't. The whole way the scene is filmed is both hilarious & just wow all at once. She was so brave doing that--and no ridiculous implants for her! She's just gorgeous.

Valentina: She shines. It reminded me of the reaction Natalie Portman got in Beautiful Girls. The one where men were saying, "I feel like a pervert, but I can't wait for her to grow up." But this blows Natalie away, in my opinion.

Sam Elliot does an amazing job as the depressed husband. He looks old & grizzled these days but he's got a sexy deep sand papery voice I've always liked. And he's still handsome.

Jim True-Frost plays a visitor who gets drawn into their strange world. He has several excellent scenes where he blurts out all these intense feelings.

Script: The whole story is just so unique. And the dialog is really clever. It will remind you a little of David Mamet.

Directing/camera-work: Campbell Scott created an amazing film and has an eye for beauty and a feel for understated but potent eroticism. But what really got me is the way they framed shots when the characters start doing something really random. The action often starts outside the audience's POV & pans over so you're craning in your seat to see what's going on in anticipation.

I can't recommend this highly enough!

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40 out of 48 people found the following review useful:
"Off The Map" -A Stunning Film!, 8 February 2005

Author: hickyman2001 from United States

In the mid 90's I had the privilege of seeing Joan Ackerman's original play,"Off The Map" at Mixed Company,in Gt.Barrington,Ma,In the Berkshires-where it was originally produced and performed-the play was beautiful,powerful and I fell in love with it.

This past Sunday-there was a special Fund Raising screening of "Off the Map" which I attended-with a Q&A with Joan and director Campbell Scott,afterword.The film blew me away!! Absolutely Stunning!! I came out of the theatre,feeling like I had been hit with something big-not sure what! The film is extremely faithful to the play-and really packs an emotional wallop to the soul-I couldn't have been more pleased with the cast-Top notch all around,with Sam Elliot playing against type-Joan Allen makes the perfect Arlene,and the girl,Valentina de Angelis was absolutely perfect as young Bo-as was the rest of the cast,J.K Simmons,Jim True-Frost- I am still stunned by this film,and am really looking forward to seeing it again,and owning it on DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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26 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
An Intimate Epic, 21 April 2005

Author: Jennifer Redmond from United States

What a pleasure to see this movie--an intelligent and beautiful film that deals with real, grown-up (and growing-up) issues faced by real characters in thoughtful and believable settings. The young girl's character was excellently drawn and acted--as was the mother's, played by the wonderful Joan Allen--but Sam Elliot stole the movie for me. What a great piece of understated acting. The screen writing is wonderful, too, but the acting is truly phenomenal. The best American film since "American Beauty"...If you liked "Lost in Translation" or "Spring Forward" you will love this movie. Cameron Scott should be nominated for an Oscar for best director--his hand is so delicate yet knowing--thank you Cameron, for making sure this film got made, and for all you clearly must have done and been through to get it distributed. It is an amazing film.

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25 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
A REAL film!!, 20 November 2004

Author: aurora7802 (aurora7802@aol.com) from Buffalo, NY

I saw this film at the High Falls Film Festival in Rochester NY, and had the pleasure of speaking with many of the people involved in this production. I have to say that this is one of the best films I have seen in a while. It's REAL... with a tranquil quality.. but REAL in a way that we can all see and relate to these characters in some way. It is a "slow" film... but that's what makes it so AMAZING.... it sucks you into these peoples lives... not just the girl.. but those surrounding her. I would love to see more films made like this. Cudos to Camble Scott for such great direction and Joan Ackermann for writing such a beautiful play.. that is now on the BIG SCREEN!!

Please, go see this film.. it takes you on an amazing ride.. BUT.. understand... that this is not an action flick... it is REAL... almost gritty and dreamy... one minute you will be laughing.. and seconds later your laugh will abruptly stop and tears may come to your eyes.. then.. back to laughter!!

I highly recommend this film!!!

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23 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Not enough movies like this are made., 21 March 2005
Author: John DeSando (jdesando@columbus.rr.com) from Columbus, Ohio

When a married Arlene Groden (Joan Allen) tells her house guest, William Gibbs (Jim True-Frost), that although it's nice he's expressed his love for her, it can be accounted for by the power of New Mexico, I knew I would express my love for this understated, eccentric, and satisfying film. While the two male heroes, Gibbs and Arlene's husband, Charley (Sam Neill), are both depressed in the clinical sense, the film is not about depression but rather the forces of devotion and simplicity that keep these retro-hippies functioning in a remote world somewhere around Santa Fe, Taos, and El Paso.

Narrator Bo Groden (as adult, Amy Brenneman and as 12 year old, Valentina de Angelis) reminisces as an adult in voice-over about that 6 months of her father's immobilizing depression in the seventies and her own freedom in that pristine land where she could hunt, plink, and create without restriction. Bo is not a wild child but rather a home-schooled, precociously sensitive pre-teen who plans to leave here as soon as possible while she regularly receives gift packages from manufacturers whom she has threatened to sue over allegedly contaminated products. Her nonchalant but effective treatment of her father in his funks is one of the many acts that assure us she is quite capable of surviving anywhere. Director Campbell Scott's determination not to fill us with back stories on all the characters makes for an energetic exploration of the way they are at this time.

Gibbs, who came from the IRS to audit the family, stays 8 years, long enough to paint New Mexican landscapes of note. His friendship with Charley is true and good, despite that fact that Charley probably knows Gibbs loves Arlene. Charley asks him, "Ever been depressed?" William replies, "I've never not been." Out of his passion for the landscape comes his sanity and a renewed interest in life that he seemed to have lost with the suicide of his mother, for which he feels responsible.

"I am a damn crying machine," Charley says. You may end up crying as well, but only because not enough movies like this are made where insights into humanity are as abundant as the Groden's garden and their four years' supply of homemade canned goods. Lafcadio Hearn could have been describing the Grodens when he said, "It is only in the home-relations that people are true enough to each other, --and show what human nature is, the beauty of it, the divinity of it."

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21 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
a sweet and beautiful film, 2 March 2005

Author: Agentlite from New York City

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Campbell Scott has directed a gem in OFF THE MAP. I had the chance to attend the premiere at Lincoln Center and was blown away by the performances of Sam Elliot, Joan Allen, J.K. Simmons, and Jim True-Frost. The New Mexican landscape complimented the story perfectly, and I felt as though I too was living on a ranch in the middle of a desert.

Elliot, an actor best known for his commanding on-screen persona and deep booming voice, did a complete turn around in this film. He hardly speaks for the entire picture, taking on the persona of a depressed yet warm man. When he does speak, it is with the subtle wisdom of a father, who, as True- Frost's character puts it, "has it all." My only longing in this area was that I wanted to see more of Elliot before he dove into depression, to strengthen the contrast.

Allen complements Sam perfectly as a metaphorical "mother earth" holding the family together as her husband suffers through the necessary ritual of unwarranted depression. She is so overwhelmingly beautiful in this film that when Jim True-Frost shows up, playing an IRS man there to audit the family for neglecting taxes indefinitely (neither Elliot or Allen work, they live off the land and on what they find in the local dump) he falls hopelessly in love with her and their centered, untarnished lifestyle.

True-Frost really makes a mark in this movie, and I would not be surprised if we see much more of him in the indie future. His character is a drifter working for the IRS (if you can believe the irony) and while not looking to find himself, he finds something much more important, beauty in the world around him, in the New Mexican landscape, and in painting with the water colors J.K. Simmons has purchased in an attempt to pull Elliot out of the depths of depression.

Simmons is delightfully refreshing as Elliot's long time best friend. He silently amuses in the role, with the quiet nature of someone who is truly at peace with all things around him.

The film also marks the debut of Valentina de Angelis, in the spunky role of Bo who ties everything together. We follow her as she yearns to escape from the very seclusion that her parents, Allen and Elliot embrace. She is rough at times, delivering lines that seem wise beyond her years, and it seems that as time progresses she may develop her craft into something greater. She has a face the screen loves, and undoubtedly that is why she was cast.

Campbell Scott is the true star here. The visuals are mindblowing. He weaves the people in the film into the land he shoots on, and creates visual illusions that are more often than not extraordinary. I would be remiss in not mentioning Joan Ackermann, whose writing makes this story far more meaningful than it might have been had the family been using electricity, plumbing, and a phone. After all, aren't the modern conveniences what prevent us from true personal reflection?

Bravo Mr. Scott. Bravo. Yes, it's a long film, and if it were a studio picture it would be 30 minutes shorter - but Scott made the film he wanted to, and we are all lucky to partake in his perspective of desert mirage.

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23 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
So glad this film finally got distribution!, 19 March 2005

Author: hurstlacey from Tucson

I just loved this movie. Anyone who values character driven indie films lucky enough to be near a screening of this film should rush to see it. I left the film feeling I really knew these fascinating characters, and felt lucky to have known them for the last two hours. This film would be perfect for the film festival circuit, I don't know why they didn't go that route, for that would have built word of mouth for a better placed release. It deserves the art house circuit, but is screening in multiplexes that won't nurture it; and audiences that prefer this kind of movie never venture into these theaters. OK, the film: Magical New Mexican vistas, wonderful paintings, sensitive direction, breathtaking acting by all. Every character had their own story, whether it was coming-of-age, sensual awakening, recovery, or fulfillment. Yet all these stories seamlessly integrated into the whole. Just go and enjoy.

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14 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Prozac Southwest, 4 September 2005

Author: Craig Whyel from Belle Vernon, PA

Worth watching, plain and simple.

I was torn somewhat between the precocious kid and the depressed dad. It was a little too much and yet the simple beauty of the New Mexico landscape offset their performance. A tighter conflict would have helped the pacing.

Everything seemed to balance itself out though, and most should find something to like about this movie.

I adore Joan Allen. She is built like a leading lady, looks, walks and talks like a leading lady yet is a great character actor as proved here. I had to look a little close to recognize her and I love that in great acting talent.

Sam Elliott, a veritable man's man, held steady. I think his effort was commendable though having been around persons afflicted with various types of depression, his seemed a bit vague, and uneven. It was like a functioning catatonia with bouts of chattering. I didn't get it. Since his mental illness was,in essence, the spine of the story, the spine was a bit bent. Still,handsome Sam is still watchable and worthy of our respect as he does not seem uncomfortable with his gray hairs or his wrinkles. Very anti-Hollywood.

Of the ensemble cast, I really enjoyed J.K. Simmons. Simmons who seems to have put most of the food on the table career-wise by playing nasties (especially in OZ) as well as disaffected authority figures, was refreshing as George, an everyman with a simpleness that was most enjoyable.

In closing, I think I would have liked the movie better if they had given proper treatment to the depressive issues affecting Charlie, Sam Elliott's character. Mental illness advocates might agree.

Still it was a bit like Walden Pond, New Mexico with more people.

Again, my criticisms aside, there is plenty to like about this. It's worth the time to watch this movie.

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