Off The Line

Off The Line (written & directed by Samuel L. Pierce) is a family drama about a young man, Mark Stevenson (Samuel L. Pierce), who is an inline speed skater. We follow him & his best friend Jake Flyer (Forrest Campbell) through their trials and tribulations to find a coach & obtain the funding to qualify for the European Grand Prix 24-hour race in this sport genre Rocky montage inspired tale. The coach is flawed, the boys are distracted, but they're pumped up to go in endless circles until the whistle blows. There are a ton of monolog sequences about speed skating throughout the movie as well as speed skating footage, which a person with a special interest in speed skating might appreciate. This could be a great film for a speed skating coach to show their students if they need to get some paperwork done during training time. But I don't actually know much about speed skating beyond what I learned from this film, so who is to say? There's more than a few lengthy scenes of stuttered dialog, the sound design could have used a bit of fine tuning, the camera work & quality was.. okay, but it seems to be a small crew production so as an indie film lover, one must be forgiving of such flaws. The women & girls in the story seem to have been written in such a way where I wonder if those involved have spoken to a woman or girl, ever. They feel more like props. I think that was the hardest part of the watch through. I like a fleshed out cast. Overall it is impressive that Samuel L. Pierce was able to pull off a full feature film that has all the qualities that makes a finished & coherent movie.