Lights. Camera. Action. Football. Yes, football. All the ingredients were there - including a host of Adelaide United players and officials - when Urtext Productions hosted a special screening of their Aussie football feature film 'Offside' in Adelaide recently.
Travis Dodd, Scott Jamieson, Marcos Flores, Mathew Leckie, Sergio Van Dijk and Reds media man, Dom Rinaldo were all there to boost the 'celebrity' flavour of the event and hobnob with the actors and production team - and I was also a guest.
'Offside' is a journey into the world of local football, complete with the drama and emotion that anyone who loves football knows is at the heart of playing and following the greatest game of all.
The producers describe 'Offside' in the following way:
Coach Frank Caruso and his team of amateur soccer hopefuls are on their way to winning the league cup...except their worst enemies are themselves. But with the Socceroos in the World Cup, maybe the boys can leave their problems behind them as they battle towards the Grand Final. With hope, luck and a little cunning on their side, they just might make it.
As long as jobs, girlfriends and wives don't get in the way!
So does 'Offside' score? Is it the film that will take football to the masses? Was Scott Jamieson right when he said it was better than 'Bend it like Beckham'?
Well, 'yes', 'maybe' and 'no' are my answers. Let me explain.
'Offside' is an amiable and entertaining film. It's well cast, nicely shot and enjoys a number of excellent performances from its fine ensemble cast.
Under the guiding hand of director, Gian Carlo, it opens up the world of local football in a genuine way, sweeping from the rivalries on the pitch and dressing room to the clash between mateship and romance, marriage and club loyalty.
'Offside' falls into the genre of film that deals with the essential question of being true to oneself. The choices here are between the 'beautiful' game or 'playing to win; the 'desire to please' or to 'take me as I am'; loyalty to family or the desire to break free.
At the centre of it all is Charlie Caruso (Terry Rogers) is a gun player in a team coached by his brother, Frank (Peter Evangelista). Charlie's a pragmatist while Frank's a football purist - but there's a grand final at stake so compromises have to be made. Along the way Charlie, always the ladies' choice, falls for Katie Wilson (a charming performance by Georgii Speakman) - but all is not as it seems. Who will be true - and to what?
Where 'Offside' falls down is in the writing. There are just too many stories going on and they fail to merge in the seamless fashion that such complexity requires. It's as if there's a really good film in waiting (maybe another edit away?) that just hasn't managed to emerge yet. It's not that it gets dull at all - it simply doesn't reach the kind of crescendos and depths that move an audience to another level. Where 'Bend it' stuck to simplicity and took us on an emotional journey, 'Offside' takes us all over the place but doesn't quite work out where to leave us.
That being said, 'Offside' deserves an audience. It's fun, it's recognisably real and it's about football! In the overcrowded world of film it's struggling to find a distributor but it may well be missing a fantastic opportunity to become a grass-roots cult hit.
I can't think of a better film to use as a fundraiser for just about any local football club in Australia. There's plenty of laughs, mateship, drinking and football for the boys and some genuine romance, good-looking blokes and strong female characters for the ladies. And it's safe for the juniors too.
My time in the amateur leagues told me plenty about the difficulties of trying to arrange a 'social' occasion for team and partners or families. 'Offside' offers the perfect solution. There wouldn't be a person in the crowd who didn't recognise themselves or at least one of their team mates or family.
Hats off to Urtext for producing a film about the most played game in the country and for keeping it real.
Last word to the rising star of Australian football, Mathew Leckie, who kept his comment as straightforward as his football. According to Mathew, "It's good".
