If you reach a point in your life when your conscience is malevolently stalking you, constantly pressing you to do the right thing, to make the right decision, then you know not all of your life choices have been entirely successful. Kate Carman’s film Off Season suggests now might be the time for some people to evaluate those choices.
When her husband is sent to prison for fraud Sylvie (Elizabeth Lee, who also wrote the film) heads to a remote beach house to get her head together. As a new relationship blooms with surfer dude / local delivery boy Deshawn (Kimani Shillingford) she begins to feel a dark presence around her, a presence that tests her sanity and forces her to face her past.
The strange thing about Off Season is that it lacks any real intensity. All the ingredients are there; the isolated location, the wild seas, the (anti-) heroine suffering from haunting guilt and the somewhat blunt moral dilemma. None of these though blend together into an interesting narrative that either engages the viewer or at the very least makes them interested in where the story is going.
Many of the dramatic scenes fall flat and carry a feeling of not being fully followed through, with cuts occurring just as you think a clue or hint at explanation is about to be revealed. Ambiguity is always a good thing but when handled badly it leaves you more confused than you should be and this also leads to a disconnect with the events on screen.
There are moments however that hook you, that for a moment draw you in but they are few and far between. Visually the film is striking in parts, with strong imagery as Sylvie struggles to rationalise what her own mind is putting her through. These sadly become lost amidst the melodrama and the final reveal feels a little contrived.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Carman and regular collaborator Lee are clearly talented filmmakers but this isn’t their best work. As a whole film Off Season misses the mark as a supernatural thriller. There are occasional strong elements but these alone are not enough to raise the film above being languorously dull and ploddingly mediocre.
