Off the Map (2003)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Campbell Scott

Writers (WGA):

Joan Ackermann (play)
Joan Ackermann (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 April 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A Very Powerful Place

Plot:

An 11-year-old girl watches her father come down with a crippling depression. Over one summer, she learns answers to several mysteries and comes to terms with love and loss. |

Plot Keywords:

Depression | Countryside | Boat | Anti Depressant | Coyote

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Amy Brenneman	...	Adult Bo
Valentina de Angelis	...	Young Bo
Joan Allen	...	Arlene
Sam Elliott	...	Charley
J.K. Simmons	...	George
Boots Southern	...	Rusty
J.D. Garfield	...	Romero
Jim True-Frost	...	William Gibbs
Matthew E. Montoya	...	Store Clerk
Kathy Griego	...	Consuela
William Hart McNicholas	...	Interpreter
Timothy Martinez	...	Priest
J.D. Hawkins	...	Jack
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kevin Skousen	...	Don

Directed by
Campbell Scott

Writing credits (WGA)
Joan Ackermann		(play)
Joan Ackermann		(screenplay)

Produced by
Paul E. Cohen	....	executive producer
Jonathan Filley	....	executive producer
Martin Garvey	....	executive producer
Ron Gell	....	executive producer
Nesim Hason	....	executive producer
Sezin Hason	....	executive producer
David Newman	....	executive producer
Campbell Scott	....	producer
George VanBuskirk	....	producer

Original Music by
Gary DeMichele

Cinematography by
Juan Ruiz Anchía

Film Editing by
Andy Keir

Casting by
Laylee Olfat

Production Design by
Chris Shriver

Set Decoration by
David Schlesinger

Costume Design by
Amy Westcott

Makeup Department
Katie Douthit	....	assistant makeup artist
James Sarzotti	....	makeup department head

Production Management
John A. Machione	....	unit production manager
Kelly Miller	....	post-production supervisor
Wendy Shuey	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dennis Crow	....	second assistant director
Cas Donovan	....	first assistant director
Nate Grubb	....	dga trainee

Art Department
Mark Alan Duran	....	lead man
Mark Hansen	....	co-leadman
Johnny Long	....	greensman
Ben Lowney	....	set dresser
Cee Moravec	....	set dresser
Keith Walters	....	property master
John N. Ward	....	gang boss
John N. Ward	....	set dresser
Joan Winters	....	graphic designer
Jeri Woodward	....	scenic foreman
Randal Woodward	....	lead scenic

Sound Department
Chad Birmingham	....	assistant sound editor
David Brownlow	....	boom operator
Nancy Cabrera	....	foley artist
Ryan Collison	....	foley engineer
Darryl L. Frank	....	boom operator
Darryl L. Frank	....	cable person
Mariusz Glabinski	....	sound effects editor
Marlena Grzaslewicz	....	supervising sound editor
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	sound effects editor
Dan Korintus	....	dialogue editor
William Sarokin	....	sound recordist
Ira Spiegel	....	supervising sound editor

Visual Effects by
James D. Tittle	....	digital visual effects coordinator: Pacific Title

Camera and Electrical Department
Theodore Y. Bott	....	electrician
Chris Espeset	....	key grip
Jamie Garcia	....	electrician
Robert Heine	....	assistant camera
Trevor Howe	....	grip
Neil Jacobs	....	still photographer
John Joleaud	....	gaffer
John McEveety	....	assistant camera
Ryan Sholin	....	dolly grip
John Stearns	....	best boy
John Stearns	....	electrician

Animation Department
Jim Boulden	....	animatronics and puppets creator (uncredited)

Casting Department
Jo Edna Boldin	....	casting: New Mexico

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Aleah Ames	....	costumer
Lisa Marzolf	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Beth Moran	....	first assistant editor
Misako Shimizu	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Marc Campbell	....	music supervisor
John M. Davis	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Dan O. Wiseman	....	driver: honeywagon

Other crew
Stan Berning	....	drawings and paintings
S. Todd Christensen	....	location manager
Mark Andrew Clark	....	production executive
Alison S. Cohen	....	production counsel
Peter Darchuk	....	production secretary
Andrea Ferguson	....	stand-in
Karen A. Harris	....	production coordinator
Michael Jaeger	....	consultant: script/research
Joanna Kennedy	....	script supervisor
Marie A. Kohl	....	production assistant
Kathie E. Norris	....	payroll accountant
Chris Painter	....	assistant location manager
Alan Swain	....	assistant location manager: Albuquerque
Aaron Yanes	....	edit room assistant

Production Companies

• Holedigger Films
• New Films International

Distributors

• Argentina Video Home (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2007) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Califórnia Home Vídeo (200?) (Brazil) (VHS) (DVD)
• Distribution Company (2007) (Argentina) (all media)
• Manhattan Pictures International
• New Films International (2005) (non-USA) (all media)

Special Effects

• Animal Makers

Other Companies

• Keslow Cameras  camera equipment provided by
• Pivotal Post  Avid editing equipment provided by

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for nudity and thematic elements.

Runtime:

108 min (Sundance Film Festival) | USA:105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:13 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Holedigger Films

Quotes:

George: [about his psychiatrist] I might ask her to marry me.
Arlene: Marry you? George, really?
George: She's a gentle person. She's very thoughtful. She cares.
Arlene: You pay her to care. George, you ought not to confuse romance with business.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Anatomy of a Scene: Off the Map" (2004)

Completely Original & Mesmerizing

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!