Off The Black

DVD Review: Off The Black (2006)

Tradition dictates that in sports films, there’s always an outsider; somebody who doesn’t quite fit. Of course, there are numerous examples of the crotchety, cynical old pro who hangs around for one last pay-day (Paul Newman in Slap Shot being the high-point of the sub-genre); or the maverick talent that doesn’t play by the rules (Tommy Lee Jones invests his portrayal of baseball hero Ty Cobb with bitter, hulking menace in Cobb). Then there are the ultimate ‘Etrangers,’ like Arthur Brauss as the titular goalkeeper in Wim Wender’s The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick.

It’s a device designed to focus human interest in what is essentially a team pursuit. Team sports are the ultimate brotherhood: a number of finely-tuned athletes striving together for the common good. There are no individuals, so to make the theme interesting, it is required that one nail sticks out of the wood to snag our attention on the wider story.

Off the Black falls defiantly into the latter category of unheralded outsiders. In order to be accurate, it’s important to say that it’s not a ‘sports’ film at all, even though the backdrop to the story and the genesis of the script are heavily involved in what our colleagues across the pond call ‘America’s Pastime,’ namely baseball.

Writer and director James Ponsoldt recalled the time he saw a baseball umpire at a home-town game slinking off after the end, getting in his car and going home. He took the notion that the only person to be there for the whole game and remain unnoticed was the umpire, and weaved a tale around this consummate stranger.

Nick Nolte plays Ray Cook, part-time umpire and car-crusher and full-time drunk. He lives alone with his bulldog Kellydawn and a whole lot of beer. At one game, he lets a crucial throw from pitcher Dave Tibbel (Trevor Morgan) count as a ball, which means Dave’s team loses the game and the right to go to the play-offs. In retaliation, Dave and two friends vandalise Ray’s place, chucking toilet paper and drawing a giant penis on the drive. Ray catches Dave and forces him to work off the mess.

A tentative bond develops between Ray and Dave. Ray has a son who doesn’t want to see him, and Dave’s own father (Timothy Hutton) is an emotional cripple who still hasn’t come to terms with the fact his wife fell out of love with him and upped sticks some time ago.

Ray, using the insane reasoning of the permanently drunk, asks Dave to pretend to be his son at an upcoming school reunion. At first reluctant, Dave eventually agrees and in the run-up to the event, we see the relationship between Ray and Dave blossom organically. Director Ponsoldt calls it “a love story without any sex.”

That’s about as accurate as you can get. There’s no ‘deep bond’ between Ray and Dave – it’s a true, father-and-son style familial love. No ifs, no buts: Off the Black is a truly excellent movie. Affecting, touching and captivatingly-written, this should be more heralded than perhaps it is. It’s easily the better than the earlier and schmaltz-filled Scent of a Woman, with which it shares an old coot/ young naïf dynamic.

Nolte is on brilliant form as the wretched Ray, his voice perfectly suited to the cancer-wracked body he’s hulking around. Every word he says sounds like the Grand Canyon carving itself another tributary, and his hangdog, pathetic expression just screams ‘wino!’ Anybody who’s seen pictures of Nolte after his federal arrest will know his ability to look both scolded and decrepit simultaneously. Ray’s not a fun drunk, or clever, or a message – he’s just drunk.

But aside from him, we get newcomer Trevor Morgan, who is also outstanding as the messed-up Dave. His ability to let Nolte dominate when he needs to demonstrates a talent far beyond his years, but if there’s any justice he’ll be getting the plum roles instead of someone like Shia LaBoeuf. Maybe he’ll become an indie darling.

If there’s one scene that demonstrates the emotional power the leading pair are capable of, it’s the drink the pair share after the reunion, where Nolte admits he tapes one-way conversations to send to his son, most of which get returned unopened. “But every once in a while,” explains Nolte, “they don’t come back. That’s what keeps me makin’ ‘em.” Morgan just listens, haunted and red-eyed.

There’s no reason why this film can’t do well on DVD, but it’s more than likely to be a word of mouth success. It doesn’t drag on, there’s no massive point to make, it’s not smart-alecky and the acting is uniformly top-class. Make sure Off the Black doesn’t sink without you seeing it first.

Chris Stanley