GOTTA SEE IT # 15 - "OFF THE BLACK"
“OFF THE BLACK”
Starring: Trevor Morgan, Nick Nolte, Sonia Feigelson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Timothy Hutton, Sally Kirkland, Noah Fleiss, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Michael Higgins.
Written by: James Ponsoldt
Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Colour – 2006
91 mins.
U.S.A.
Usually I spend the first paragraph of these “Gotta See It” postings rambling on about this or that before, finally, getting to the task at hand. This time, though, I’m in no mood to ramble (not a bad title for a country song, by the way) – this is a damn good movie that’s well worth 91 minutes of your life. So there!
The story of a surrogate father-son relationship between miserable, aging, alcoholic small time baseball umpire, Ray Cook (Nick Nolte) and sensitive and promising young pitcher, Dave Tibbel (Trevor Morgan), OTB is as quiet as a dugout in December and possesses the kind of small movie miracles that one wishes were as plentiful as pop ups on opening day.
The first scene, at once perfectly symbolic and efficiently dramatic, sees our young pitcher, Dave, facing a 3-2 count with the bases loaded in a tie game. He looks shaky on the mound before delivering the decisive pitch. A dramatic pause follows before umpire Ray Cook calls it a ball. Much later, Ray will admit to Dave that in that pause he almost called the pitch a strike. This line refers to the nature of their relationship, which is a moving illustration of the idea that it is often easier to seek what you’re missing in an old relationship, not by repairing it, but by starting a new one.
Years pile on, one after another, and boundaries and attitudes to one another build up. A whole list of things you can and cannot do with one another or can and cannot say takes root almost without one knowing. Problems that should’ve been addressed when they were manageable, over time, seem too overwhelming to address and consequently, feel impossible to overcome. In the clean slate of a new relationship, though, you can right all of that or at least you think you can. Owing to his age, Dave is clearly unaware of what’s really at work between him and Ray, and, therefore, is incapable of seeing that the sole purpose of this relationship is ultimately to point to the deficiencies of a much more important one. Its’ energy directed at the wrong target, or, more appropriately, in the context of this film, a pitch thrown over the wrong plate.
The back and forth between Morgan and Nolte rings true - from a late night encounter that almost proves tragic to an eventual comedic interaction that leads into personal revelations which deepens their bond. Managing to convincingly convey emotional immaturity, naiveté, and a genuine feeling of being intimidated by the worn and wounded presence of Nolte’s Ray, Morgan pieces together a solid, non-showy performance which captures, in a fresh way, youth in all of its’ awkward glory. Here’s hoping he doesn’t become the next big thing and disappear down the rabbit hole of his own ego. Fingers crossed.
Now, Nolte was born to play Ray Cook. He looks and sounds the part and, somehow, is able to carry it all off without overplaying. Blessed with that unusual and remarkable ability to seem to be in many places at the same time, Nolte gives Ray Cook the respect he deserves. He doesn’t play him as a loser, but as a man who recognizes that, often in life, the battle was never there to be won. It appeared to be fought, yes, but, more than anything, experienced, learned from and applied to other parts of ones’ life.
Kudos to writer/director Ponsoldt, who, though at times lays it on a little to thick with his dialogue, ultimately fashions a mature and moving sketch of the way people often occupy a “stand-in” role each other’s lives. And a tip of the hat to Tim Orr whose cinematography is as calm and beautifully naturalistic as it was in David Gordon Green’s underrated “All the Real Girls.”
Ah, baseball, a sport I have next to no interest in provides some clever metaphors for a film that suggests a real talent in the making in James Ponsoldt. Let’s hope he continues to hit the black with his future films.
Starring: Trevor Morgan, Nick Nolte, Sonia Feigelson, Rosemarie DeWitt, Timothy Hutton, Sally Kirkland, Noah Fleiss, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Michael Higgins.
Written by: James Ponsoldt
Directed by: James Ponsoldt
Colour – 2006
91 mins.
U.S.A.
Usually I spend the first paragraph of these “Gotta See It” postings rambling on about this or that before, finally, getting to the task at hand. This time, though, I’m in no mood to ramble (not a bad title for a country song, by the way) – this is a damn good movie that’s well worth 91 minutes of your life. So there!
The story of a surrogate father-son relationship between miserable, aging, alcoholic small time baseball umpire, Ray Cook (Nick Nolte) and sensitive and promising young pitcher, Dave Tibbel (Trevor Morgan), OTB is as quiet as a dugout in December and possesses the kind of small movie miracles that one wishes were as plentiful as pop ups on opening day.
The first scene, at once perfectly symbolic and efficiently dramatic, sees our young pitcher, Dave, facing a 3-2 count with the bases loaded in a tie game. He looks shaky on the mound before delivering the decisive pitch. A dramatic pause follows before umpire Ray Cook calls it a ball. Much later, Ray will admit to Dave that in that pause he almost called the pitch a strike. This line refers to the nature of their relationship, which is a moving illustration of the idea that it is often easier to seek what you’re missing in an old relationship, not by repairing it, but by starting a new one.
Years pile on, one after another, and boundaries and attitudes to one another build up. A whole list of things you can and cannot do with one another or can and cannot say takes root almost without one knowing. Problems that should’ve been addressed when they were manageable, over time, seem too overwhelming to address and consequently, feel impossible to overcome. In the clean slate of a new relationship, though, you can right all of that or at least you think you can. Owing to his age, Dave is clearly unaware of what’s really at work between him and Ray, and, therefore, is incapable of seeing that the sole purpose of this relationship is ultimately to point to the deficiencies of a much more important one. Its’ energy directed at the wrong target, or, more appropriately, in the context of this film, a pitch thrown over the wrong plate.
The back and forth between Morgan and Nolte rings true - from a late night encounter that almost proves tragic to an eventual comedic interaction that leads into personal revelations which deepens their bond. Managing to convincingly convey emotional immaturity, naiveté, and a genuine feeling of being intimidated by the worn and wounded presence of Nolte’s Ray, Morgan pieces together a solid, non-showy performance which captures, in a fresh way, youth in all of its’ awkward glory. Here’s hoping he doesn’t become the next big thing and disappear down the rabbit hole of his own ego. Fingers crossed.
Now, Nolte was born to play Ray Cook. He looks and sounds the part and, somehow, is able to carry it all off without overplaying. Blessed with that unusual and remarkable ability to seem to be in many places at the same time, Nolte gives Ray Cook the respect he deserves. He doesn’t play him as a loser, but as a man who recognizes that, often in life, the battle was never there to be won. It appeared to be fought, yes, but, more than anything, experienced, learned from and applied to other parts of ones’ life.
Kudos to writer/director Ponsoldt, who, though at times lays it on a little to thick with his dialogue, ultimately fashions a mature and moving sketch of the way people often occupy a “stand-in” role each other’s lives. And a tip of the hat to Tim Orr whose cinematography is as calm and beautifully naturalistic as it was in David Gordon Green’s underrated “All the Real Girls.”
Ah, baseball, a sport I have next to no interest in provides some clever metaphors for a film that suggests a real talent in the making in James Ponsoldt. Let’s hope he continues to hit the black with his future films.
