Off the Map
The possibilities in life are endless.
Bo is a young girl, living in rural New Mexico, who yearns to feel a connection to the world she perceives as beginning outside the lines of her tiny town. Her father is depressed; her mother is the archetype of an earth mother. Bo meanwhile writes to various snack-cake manufacturers describing the ailments their products have given her and requesting replacements. But the family grows its own food and has a stockpile of firewood that will last years. That sets the stage for the visit from the IRS, sent to see why the family hasn't filed any income taxes.
Member Reviews
Toooooo Quirky - ABC99
There are types of characters that only exist in independant movies. They are good, and weird and sad, and just strange in all the right ways. Off the Map is one of those movies where the weirdness is so perfectly measured out. MEntal health is dealt with but the true unsettling nature of chronic depression never comes through. Poverty is addressed but again never really dealt with in a way that I have experianced in the real world.
Off the Map is a nice movie about nice people but it isn't as insightful as it seems to think it is. Just too quirky for MeOff the charts - anglophonequebec
Off the Map uses none of the trickery of the overbudget computer-enhanced Hollywood. The surroundings of Taos figure as a part of the cast in this very intimate film. Yes, it is based on a play. It has five main speaking parts: mother, daughter, father, best friend and the IRS agent who comes to investigate then stays for 8 years. The father (played with amazing force by Sam Eliot) says very few words. He is the grips of deep depression, and tussles valiantly with himself and the friend he has lost. His daughter Bo (again a great performance far beyond most "child" actors) is the budding young professional: writing business letters to obtain boxes of sweets, coveting an appointment book for a life filled with chickens, squirrels, and a passing coyote. I know a bit about homeschooling, and this touches the ambiguities of letting the young set their own direction even if they lead into the very city that the parents reject. The arrival of the IRS agent presents the moment when the outside world intrudes, but the IRS agent becomes transfixed by the scenery and the beauty of the mother (quite fully revealed as she tends her garden in the nude). The part-Hopi mother (played equally with great sensitivity by Joan Allen) holds the homestead together with love and enough distance to be able to take in the profession of love by the IRS agent as just another fact that does not deviate her from her choices.
Narrated by the daughter as a flashback, this movie uncovers deep emotions and tolerance for differences. The daughter wanted to leave for the city life, but she has a firm connection back to a strength of character of her eccentric parents. It is not a movie of car chases or tricked images. New Mexico provides the enchantment in a rich very visual medium far beyond the typical staging of plays-turned-films. There is a tinge of comedy, funded in part by the daughter's MasterCard. At the heart it is a serious film about choice and the human spirit.Desert Fantasy - billie
This must be Joan Allen's finest hour. She is just so good as the wife/mother in this unusual family. Unusual only in the where and the how of their life, very ordinary and loving when it comes to family ties. Not all families would take in the IRS agent and tend him while he is ill, and allow him to stay for 8 years while he turns himself into a painter. But it was easy for this family. It was a great relief to see the father come out of his depression at last. The movie is well written, well directed, and wonderfully framed, presenting New Mexico as a powerful character in the film. Valentina d'Angelis is terrific and natural as the 11 year old daughter. In fact, this is a very fine movie, and should be more well known than it is. I wish I could understand the significance of Bo killing the coyote, though....
Member Reviews
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Toooooo Quirky - ABC99
There are types of characters that only exist in independant movies. They are good, and weird and sad, and just strange in all the right ways. Off the Map is one of those movies where the weirdness is so perfectly measured out. MEntal health is dealt with ...Off the charts - anglophonequebec
Off the Map uses none of the trickery of the overbudget computer-enhanced Hollywood. The surroundings of Taos figure as a part of the cast in this very intimate film. Yes, it is based on a play. It has five main speaking parts: mother, daughter, father, best ...Desert Fantasy - billie
This must be Joan Allen's finest hour. She is just so good as the wife/mother in this unusual family. Unusual only in the where and the how of their life, very ordinary and loving when it comes to family ties. Not all families would take in the IRS agent and ...