Search - Off Screen on DVD

Gordon T. (drdrue) from BREA, CA
Reviewed on 9/5/2009...

The movie was only fair. Didn't make much sense. Dutch language only with English subtitles.

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Fascinating character study and sociopolitical film

LGwriter | Astoria, N.Y. United States | 10/21/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Much more similar to the American indie film Revolution #9 and the Canadian film Cypher than to Memento and Fight Club, the Dutch film Off Screen--ostensibly based on a true story--concerns an about-to-retire bus driver, now in his 34th year of bus driving, who sees startlingly negative subliminal messages conveyed to him via his new widescreen TV.

By sheer accident, he runs into a high level Philips executive (bearing in mind that Philips is the number one Dutch manufacturer of home audio and video entertainment technologies) as a bus passenger and the two men become friends--of a sort.

The convergence of the bus driver's psychology--he's separated and his wife does not want him back, and he subsequently loses his job--and the executive's own fragile mental state, based on the development of new video technologies (code name: Pandora's Box) deliver an immensely intriguing story that makes the viewer wonder if the strange video technologies described really do exist.

Even if they are fictional, this is a gripping story, superbly enhanced by the two male leads, Jan Declier (from the great Dutch film "Character") and Jeroen Krabbe (from many Dutch and American films). These two actors are in fine form and significantly add to the drama that results in a truly startling ending, which will not be revealed here.

The question of how much responsibility companies like Philips have in influencing TV viewers is, for the most part, implicit, but it is there all the same. Conversely, the question of how much impact individual consumers can have on large corporations is more dramatically presented, as the viewer will see as the film develops.

The bottom line theme of the film is sociopolitical responsibility. Does the corporation have it, or doesn't it?

A strong film, well worth seeing and highly recommended."