The Off Hours

I saw this film yesterday at a festival, and felt compelled to write a review after seeing the HD trailer on youtube overtaken by trolls and receiving some rather undeserving comments. So here's a short list of what I made of it:

Pros:

• solid acting/directing

• lilting, atmospheric and overall beautiful soundtrack

Cons:

• most movie-goers may find the pacing a tad slow to the point of being boring; story is barely kept moving by events which do not culminate into anything huge or dramatic

Other notes (good or bad, these are probably a matter of personal taste):

• film permeated by a low-budget, moody, night-lit feel, a world of twilight hours and rain-streaked highways, drifters and vagabonds, stagnant coffee, greasy gasoline, and illicit love

-actors/actresses/director unfamiliar but good

• one could argue that the film is made up of a series of character vignettes; plot is entirely character-driven as opposed to story-driven

• characters are neither entirely sympathetic nor hateful; life for them simply seems seeped in a dull, sluggish immobility. Who they are and the lethargy of their lives mold the film and pacing throughout.

That's all I can think of for now.

To conclude, I personally didn't find the movie very depressing at all, even though the characters are all down-and-out types suffering from this-or-that problem, and the ending is actually a hopeful one. Overall I liked it. So for those with an open mind, or if you're into mood pieces, I would recommend this for you, and if you were unsure about watching this possibly after seeing nasty comments about it elsewhere, I hope my review will help you to make a more reasoned decision.

6.8 to 7.5-ish/10 for me.