Offside
Offside
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Synopsis

A provocative and ultimately triumphant film from Jafar Panahi that deals with a group of Iranian women disguised as boys who attempt to sneak into a soccer match at a Tehran stadium, where they are forbidden by law. When they're discovered by police, Offside has the potential to devolve into harsh reprisals, but instead focuses on the absurd and comical interplay between the frustrated girls and their jailers, who have no choice but to watch over and argue with the women over an arbitrary law while a roaring championship game goes on not 100 feet away. Panahi was officially banned from filming this tale, but his sly, covert production succeeds where his characters failed. "A wonderfully funny, outspoken shaggy-dog story" (Entertainment Weekly). In Persian with English subtitles. Jafar Panahi---Iran---2006---93 mins.

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  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
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   | Lewis#4

Trying unsuccessfully to circumvent a risible Iranian law that prohibits females from attending soccer games, six young women find themselves in a holding area awaiting transportation to police headquarters. The women can hear the roar of the crowd as well as descriptions of the play, but their experience of the contest (the important 2005 Iraq-Bahraini games, which advanced Iran to the World Cup competition) is limited to this. They are guarded by young soldiers, rural conscripts who are no match for the mouthy and quick-witted Tehrani women and who themselves would rather be in the stadium. This low-key Jafar Panahi film is a gentle, vérité comedy constructed around an official absurdity. We empathize with the young women as well as with the young men, compelled to enforce, unenthusiastically, this bizarre restriction. Both groups would rather be in the stadium enjoying the game.

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  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
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   | JohnH#1

Spirited young ladies who are impounded after trying to sneak into a World Cup qualifying match in Teheran score goals against nonsensical rules and the hapless soldiers who have to enforce them. Well acted and fast paced almost to the end: the celebration drags on too long.

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