User reviews

Watched the movie and came to IMDb and realized the most voted review was really punishing on the movie although IMO it wasn't that bad.

The movie serves its purpose and it doesn't drag the story making it a 1:30h enjoyable movie.

Solid performances by all main actors.

Not sure about the bad Irish accent since English is not my mother language but it probably helped me to understand the movie without subtitles.

6,5 out of 10

thanks

Off Piste could have been an exceptional film, with more careful handling.

Sharper, more intelligent narrative and a simpler, more considered story line, with perhaps the IRA, taking the place of the weird sociopath forlorn boyfriend/sidekick thing, would could have seen this film shine.

Indeed, the last quarter of the film is very watchable and hints at what this film could have achieved. Six out of ten from me.

Not what I was expecting, thankfully no Hollywood style ex army ridiculous action scenes. Instead a realistic interpretation of a troubled man deeply affected by his past. More thought provoking and sensitive than I expected, although some decisions were bewildering. Fine acting by the the three main cast, quite touching at times, if the budget is to be believed, its incredible. Def worth a watch, my sort of film.

Looking at the cover of "Off Piste", you're expecting a pure survival movie full of action and chases in a French snowy landscape. That's not the case. It's rather a psychological drama in which processing a traumatic experience is the central theme. First we meet Stanley Winters (Henry Douthwaite) who during a military raid on a local pub, where I.R.A. members were discussing something, accidentally shot the young son of one of these members. And then there's Niamh O'Brien (Lara Lemon) who witnessed the death of her younger brother and father that evening as a young girl. Both are struggling with the past. Stanley stows away his military combat uniform after this incident and moves to the French Alps where he'll live with his blind mother (Yvonne O'Grady) in a remote mountain cabin. There he tries to find inner peace.

As Niamh discovers the real truth about the death of her father and brother, she leaves Ireland confidently and travels to the French mountain village. The further progress of the story seems to be evident. You can only guess what motives Niamh has to find those responsible. Is it to avenge her loss? A revenge because her life ended up in a series of depressions? Or is it because she wants to deal with the past and finally be able to leave it all behind? That the person who took care of her afterwards still has a dossier lying around about Winters, is an indication about the unlikely and the sometimes nonsensical events.

I liked the psychological aspect and thought it was interesting enough. Stanley struggling with his inner demons and using a female psychiatrist (who displays more uncertainties than her patient) to channel his recovery. Even Stanley's mother tries to get her son back on the right path so that he rediscovers the meaning of life. That's why she acts like a mother hen, the moment Niamh arrives. As a true matchmaker she tries to hook them up. She isn't aware of the dreadful link that connects the two.

What's the flaw in this film you wonder? The absurdity of the two idiotic Irish guys, traveling headlong to the French Alps. Ethan (Jared Fortune) , because he believes that he sees himself as the fiancée of Niamh and he finds it hard to bear that she's looking for another man. And then there's Logan (Paul McGuinness). He's just in it because he has probably nothing else to do. They arrive at the French village like two genuine Irish hooligans. Ethan confronts Niamh with the fact that she first had to consult with him. A bit later he clears off like a beaten dog after she made it perfectly clear to him what their relationship is about. The resulting response is so excessive that the credibility of the whole film is brought down. If these two skirts hunters have experienced many rejections in their homeland, I fear the female part of the population was decimated in number. I've always said that foam-free, warm beer is fatal for human brain cells.

So despite the beautiful renditions of Henry Douthwaite and Yvonne O'Grady, "Off Piste" reasonably far-fetched. I understand that without the intervention of Etahn and Logan the complete movie would be kind of banal with just scenes of two traumatized souls. But as I said before, the motivation for their intervention is totally whacked. Even the ultimate action from Stanley is in terms of coincidence grossly exaggerated. Regrettable. Because eventually I found the underlying issue extremely interesting.

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Luckily I downloaded this tripe so didn't part with any money. What a complete shambles of a film. The main actor actually isn't all that bad he just let down by a crap script.

As another reviewer has mentioned the Irish accents are terrible and the female lead really needs to give up the acting lark!

Stay away Read a book Do the washing go shopping or put this on to fall asleep to!

I need to write 10 lines for this review I think I have spent long enough on this but need to do my duty and steer you all away from this dross!

Is this the best film in the world..no but then again it's definitely not the worst. Considering its small budget it has been beautifully shot. Some of the Northern Irish accents are a bit dodgy but the main actors manage it well. Lara Lemon won best supporting actress at the New York film festival and best actress at the Southampton film festival and these are not given out lightly. What I don't understand are the Mr. Angry reviews. Very strange ! Watch it you won't be disappointed. Lara Lemon has a brilliant name and is memorizing to watch. She's one to watch for the future For a small budget it was excellent

An army operation to take down an IRA cell goes badly wrong, resulting in the death of a young boy. Twelve years later, and his vengeful sister "Niamh" (Lara Lemon) is old enough to set off in pursuit of the soldier who, accidentally, shot him. That takes us to the remote French Alps where he now lives in recluse, with his blind violin-playing mother, trying even now to come to terms with what he has done. She finds him with remarkable ease, but her plan does not quite pan out - especially as her would-be boyfriend from Ireland "Ethan" (Jared Fortune) and his dangerous mate "Logan" (Paul McGuinness) also manage to find them both and it all turns particularly nasty. To call this an implausible story would be an understatement, the whole thing is borderline preposterous. The snowscape scenery is beautiful to look at, but the rest of this offers little by way of a credible thriller with Nathan Bevan-Stewart doing his best as the guilt-ridden soldier "Michael" but an ensemble of easy enough to look at, but hardly more than competent other on-screen talent lurching from unlikely scenario to unlikely scenario - only with guns and a rottenly contrived script. To be fair, it moves along quickly and once it gets going there is some action for us - but I'm afraid you have to leave you sensible head at the door....

Feel bad for the actors who had to star in this movie. Don't waste your time watching it.

One star because.because I cannot give '0', OK, let it belong to the therapist Bernadette :) From one improbability to another impossibility, accentuated by wooden dialogs and characters.

....... here some juicy pieces: The guy hikes up in the back country to go down in powder, in the avalanche prone area (as we learn from a conversation in the bar a day before), and a girl that wants to meet him (for whatever reason) sneaking up on him to connect, then tries to follow him on a snowboard, falls injures her leg, and the guy says, I have to carry you down to my house that is at the bottom of the hill, and that's what he does, carries her down the hill, in backcountry, in powder snow, how stupid is this!!!???!!!. Then after arriving there in not a drop of sweat on his brow.

Then she is invited by his mother to stay and have dinner with them, walking around not even slightly limping.... Then her Irish jealous boyfriend shows up (we are now in French Alps) with a deranged buddy of his, who persuades him an honor killing her and the guy (the one that does impossible things in backcountry), they just grab the hunting rifle and the pistol from under the blanket in the back of the SUV they drove from Belfast....and then some more incredulous event unfold.

You would be better to watch paint dry.

I very rarely contribute here, but couldn't restrain myself after waysting 1.5hr.

The DVD cover gives the impression that this is a one-man revenge story, but you will be surprised as to who is really out for revenge, and what the cost of that will be.

The two central characters lives are torn apart after a British soldier kills a young boy during an IRA meeting raid. Years later the soldier is in seclusion still trying to come to terms with what he did. Meanwhile the boy's older sister, now a woman, seeks the soldier out.

Both actors bring a quiet humanity to their roles and as the layers of hate and imagined monsters start to peel away what could have been a simple story develops into a more complex exploration of the struggle for forgiveness; to yourself and to others.

Beautifully shot on location, with some stunning aerial photography. It is the two main actors who hold the attention Henry Douthwaite is compelling fighting his inner demons. And it says everything that the wonderful Lara Lemon has won a Best Supporting Actress Award for this film, heartbreakingly displaying the struggle between a need for revenge and the growing realisation that this will not bring her happiness.

An impressive project made on a small budget. Give it a watch if you want to see some great upcoming talent before they become big stars.

OK, I have been in Ireland, worked with Irish, etc., even someone from Belfast (but did not have a very heavy accent), but maybe are right the ones (actually, I think one) complaining a heavy fake Belfast accent (I guess the accent from Dublin, that I know better, is different). Also, I may agree it is not the best film around, but... Like many others, I was expecting a kind of action Hollywood "kill all" movie, in non-Hollywood imitation sauce - instead, it comes out as being a somehow intimate movie, with just enough action to keep the story, but a lot of focus on psychology of the characters, very good use and perfect choice of the scenery, good choice of the music, and at least some of the actors and dialogues are actually good. True, the characters could have been developed even a bit more (though rather because they were already clearly in the right direction), some of the actors were a bit "too little French to be in France" ;-), some dialogues could have been better, maybe some of the passages of scenes could have been done better - but I have seen more than one movie from Hollywood with good budget and even some big name, where the acting, dialogues and the movie were tons worst. And if the budget was a number of times what advertised, it would still be an very good result for the money, but for that money, it is exceptionally good - yes, I admit this last aspect and the aspect about the characters psychology have upped my rating a lot. Not the first title would come to mind to suggest to someone from an entertaining night, but I am definitively happy with the choice of watching it (and by the way, see what another reviewer wrote, no, I am not part of the family of anybody involved with this movie ;-))

this film is slow moving sad and at times boring but i guess its not an awful movie and it's solid so i suppose you could at least say they tried and i think it was shot well

ehhh i didn't hate it but i wouldn't watch it again so i don't know what to say to you because i don't think it's bad but it's not great either

Coming from N Ireland I was cringing with what was supposed to be an accent. The film was bad enough without listening to the atrocious dialogue - you would be better off sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting la la la la la la. If you are thinking of watching this film -dont - cut your toenails and watch them grow back, it would be more enjoyable.

Actually quite a good idea and not too bad inplementation although a bit heavy handed and continuity stinks. The idea was good but got somewhat overcooked in the way the film was made and it could have been a really oustanding movie with some careful work. As it is the idea was good but, sadly, the cake turned out just ordinary.

I rarely watch a movie rated this low. My guess is that it is rated so poorly because people come looking for a revenge/action plot, which this is not. But very well done.

I was sorry to read the negative review ,bad accents ,sas or not , but for me those were not important at all for the story .

A beautiful construct about human fallibility and forgiveness and how the world is not black or white.

We need more films like this with different talent to refresh what is becoming very stale in the world of cgi blockbusters .

Some of the still shots conveyed so much and it goes to show that less is often more !

Well its quite annoying having to fill ten lines Mr IMDb !

OK one more line

There were a number of points made, that make this movie seem like thoughtful literature. The film is therefore at least interesting, and otherwise meaningful, moving and compelling. It's about something. To do with recent and contemporary life and culture.

This is a bit of a Marmite movie as has "made in Britain" all over it. Without spoiling this, it is the kind of movie where you know exactly what is going to happen within watching it for about 10 minutes. For me this is not a bad thing as I find the journey as interesting as the reveal; however, this kind of movie may be a let down for those who do not feel the same way.

This is not action packed! in fact it is 1/2 psychological, 1/3 suspense/thriller and 1/5 action. The acting is a little wooden and the plot a little rushed in the second half of the movie. Nevertheless, I cannot really compare this movie to any other making it quite unique (like Marmite!) and it is this factor that pushed my rating up.

I would not watch it again but glad i did.

A moving and well done film unless you are distracted by the apparently poor Irish accents. Some of the constructs are a bit stretched but nothing like 99% of other films out right now. A mix of suspense, sadness and reflections on life, different from my expectation of a more typical action movie.