Offside

On another hand, the highlight of Offside is its score, even though, its ominous style combines with the monochrome visual makes it resemble an art-house movie about sad and depressed people dealing with sad and depressing situations! But to the contrary, the film likely intends to be hopeful and wants us to root for this women to win everything.

Because of this contradiction of style and substance, Offside can be quite confusing, especially in the beginning, if one were to watch it with no prior knowledge, they would likely spend the first act trying to figure out if it is just about sports or if there is something more profound or sinister at play! It does not help that we have almost no information about the sportswomen as Offside does not let its players talk, we just see them giggling and training but, not once learn about their opinions, feelings or personal motivations. It feels as if they are just on display, all while we hear plenty about the coach or even a master of ceremony and the male manager of the team. Possibly, they wanted to keep the focus on the group as a unit rather than focusing on individual players, but, for better or worse, it could be a metaphor of them becoming one. Unless are they symbolizing an abstract example of a group of players, like millions across the globe? To its credit, the documentary makes us involve in guessing its true meaning!

“Some viewers might be satisfied with the simple human aspect of this story about a small sports club journey…”

At the end of the day, some viewers might be satisfied with the simple human aspect of this story about a small sports club journey from a pre-season eventually leading to well-earn bigger things, but others – or maybe just “team-sports philistines!” – might not learn anything about the game, or be interested in learning more afterward. However, all might agree that the director used this subject wisely to demonstrate his skills and talent.