...confounds the viewer in its simplicity, but there's so much going on in its contained universe that to call it anything but supremely dense would be an outright lie.
While lighter in tone (than Crimson Gold and at times even funny, Panahi's drama about young women forbidden to attend a soccer match is nevertheless tough to shake.
...funny, angry, passionate, and surprisingly patriotic, and it builds to an ending that feels hopeful but not phony. It's a sports film unlike any other, and a political film that makes the personal profound.
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ALL AVERAGE CRITIC RATING
8.2
AVERAGE USER RATING (4 ratings)
7.2
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USER REVIEWS:
Oracle8
An easy stand-out at this past year's New York Film Festival, Jafar Panahi's Offside is simple yet tough, a film whose unlikely reflexivity is both a reason to praise it and think about. Carefully accumulating and juxtaposing details to form a web of metaphors and meanings, the film chronicles a group of young women who, not allowed to enter sports events due to Iranian law, disguise themselves as boys in order to enter Tehran's Azadi Stadium to watch a World Cup qualifying match. Using a slyly complex verité aesthetic, Panahi beautifully captures the discriminatory effect of Iran's society and blatantly turns high scenes of tension to natural comedy. The film commences with a man searching for his daughter (He comes back later), then marvelously switching (much like his standard narrative) to men on a bus spotting a scared woman in the corner. The film advances, and, as predicted (Spoiler alert), she gets caught. Using hand held DV camera work and partly shot live at the game, the frame gives the film its ultra-sense of realism, which effectively, not only gives the thoughts of these women, but also a “fly-on-the-wall” like observation as if one could be observing such a sight. The girl is put in a square like barrier with others, all begging and pleading to get out. In a masterful vignette of the film in which a girl tries to escape by going to the bathroom, Panahi again superbly captures emotion, distrust and comedy through one beautiful long shot. And, despite an uncanny and superfluous sub-context near the end of the film involving the first girl of the bus, as well as a few semi-staged script sequences, Panahi's images, although easy, illusory and figurative, still strike toughly. So, while Offside first creates a light-hope sentiment within, it takes a deeper, more poignant contemplation to welcome what lies in its subtle, consequential center.
-Oracle
wynns5
I was disappointed. I didn't feel the injustice. The film didn't really show me why it was so important to be at this game. I expected something more than crazed fans at a sporting event. I was expecting to see some more complex motivations that illustrate the inequality between men and women.
Overall, I think the 90 minutes would be better spent doing something else. It only gets point enough to make it to average because of the unintentional background of "this is what Iran is like" And for some Metallica graffiti on the wall in the stadium bathroom.
Stacy6
Interesting to see the social dilemmas, but the film was too long. Too long.
This movie is available on DVD/Video