marclay

Several young Iranian women dress as boys and try to get into a World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain. When they're caught, they're penned in an area where the match remains within earshot, but out of sight. The prisoners plead to be let go, but rules are rules.

Given the pedigree of its director, Jafar Panahi, it was disarming to discover that Offside is a comedy, and a frequently hilarious one. In 1997's The Mirror, Panahi presents two versions of Iranian girlhood and leaves the audience to wonder which one is "real". In 2000's The Circle, several Iranian women step outside the system; their transgressions are different, but they all end up in the same tragic place.

However, thinking now about Offside, it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a comedy, because the situation it presents is so obviously ridiculous. As the women demand to know why they can't watch the soccer match and their captors struggle to answer, the only possible outcome is comedy.

What makes Offside most affecting is that the young women are not portrayed as activists attacking the system. They are simply soccer fans and patriots, and despite the fact that they are clearly being treated unfairly, they never lose their focus on the match and the historic victory that is within their nation's grasp.

I first saw this about a year ago in a theater here in Switzerland, and I recently rewatched it on DVD. Happily, it's one of those movies that actually improves with a second viewing.

Deceptively simple, Tout un hiver covers ground both personal and political in its portrayal of a grief-stricken man and woman. He's a Swiss farmer forced to work at a factory to make ends meet; she's a teacher from Kosovo working in the factory's kitchen. Both have experienced profound loss that has cut them off from the worlds they knew, and both are being forced to lean on their strength and postpone their suffering.

Because both are married (albeit to absent spouses) their compassion for each other is naturally frowned upon. But this is a movie primarily about healing, and all opportunities for cheap drama are never indulged.

Despite some strong festival screenings (it won two awards at the Venice Film Festival in 2004), Tout un hiver was not seen much outside Switzerland, which is a shame, as it was one of the best movies I saw last year.

This romantic comedy, about a dancer's rapid ascent to the top & the two men who would have her, is interesting -- but certainly not because of its too-predictable plot.

No, what makes Dancing Lady interesting is all of the trivia about it that has nothing to do with its main action: it was Fred Astaire's official debut (he plays himself & dances with Joan Crawford in the finale); it features an early screen appearance by The Three Stooges (they do their best to screw up Crawford's audition for Broadway director Clark Gable); and also present are singer Nelson Eddy (also playing himself), Algonquin Round Table-member Robert Benchley (amusing as a perennially-unprepared reporter), and Sterling "Winnie the Pooh" Holloway (memorable as one of the writers of the musical Gable is directing). Also interesting is the fact that so many well-known songwriters contributed to the film's soundtrack, including Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

Okay, interesting. But is it worth seeing?

Well, I don't hate myself for having sat through it, but this is not one that I would recommend actively seeking out. Certainly Crawford & Gable are engaging enough, and they are well-supported by a nice ensemble. I was also pleasantly struck by some of Robert Z. Leonard's directorial touches, in particular some creative transitions early in the film & a nicely-handled party scene about halfway through.

However, for Dancing Lady to have risen above the countless films with similar formulaic stories, it really needed a better script. After an energetic first hour, the inevitability of the film's resolution starts to weigh it down, and it all but crawls into its awkward & uninspired musical finale.

Also, too much of the dialogue tries too hard to be clever -- and ends up incomprehensible. I was often reminded of banter you might hear in a modern-day parody of a film from this era.

Score: SIX out of TEN