Name: Off Track
Director: Mårten Klingberg
Released: 2022-11-16T12:30:00

Off Track is a Swedish dramedy. The story revolves around an alcoholic mother, Lisa, who is trying to get her life back on track by preparing and participating in Vasaloppet. The movie is dubbed in English and is available on Netflix.

Story

Lisa is a single mother, who hardly has enough grip over her own life. At the start of the movie, Lisa is perceived as someone who is irresponsible and lacks accountability.

Her alcohol problem and ill behaviour lead to her young daughter, Elvira, being sent to live with her former husband. Due to a water malfunction at home, Lisa goes to live with her brother, Daniel, and her sister-in-law, Klara.

During the course of her stay at his place, she gets motivated to participate in the Vasaloppet. Her participation in the skiing race helps her turn her life around.

There is another subplot that is brewing side by side with Lisa’s story. This subplot revolves around Daniel. He is very focused on the Vasaloppet and prioritizes it as well.

While the intense preparation for the race Daniel is seen to be trying to conceive with his wife. However, there is little enthusiasm for this, from his side.

This leaves the audience questioning what exactly Daniel wants.

Performances

Katia Winter, who portrays Lisa in the movie, is a very good actress. Her portrayal of a ‘messed up’ single mother, who may have an alcohol addiction, is thoroughly convincing.

Fredrik Hallgren plays the role of Daniel, Lisa’s brother. His acting seemed better than Winter’s in certain scenes. Even though both actors’ characters were quite complex in nature – Hallgren did a better job.

Other actors, such as Rakel Warmlander (who plays the role of Klara), and Ulf Stenberg (who plays Anders, the cop), have delivered great performances in this movie.

Positives

The cinematography is excellent. The wide-angle shots of the hills are blessings to the eyes. The monotone colour scheme of clothing that shifts with every scene of the film is a very clever takeaway from this movie.

One can easily detect the emotion of the character through simple observation. The storyline is quite encouraging.

It is a general theme of one getting their life back together. However, the Vasaloppet race seems to be a unique twist to the tale.

The actors in Off Track have done a very good job. Even if one is not familiarised with Swedish actors’ work – this movie would be great to follow.

The highlight of the movie would definitely be how Lisa did not win the Vasaloppet, but since she did complete it there was quite a celebration, lending the film the feel-good factor.

Negatives

Off Track switches from a slow pace at the start to a rapid one later on. It feels like there was a need to wrap up the movie in less than 2 hours.

Another problem is that there seems to be more depth to Daniel’s storyline than Lisa’s. Her backstory is not very clear. There is a point in the movie, where her story feels like the subplot to Daniel’s main storyline.

Verdict

Off Track suffers from an inconsistent pace with the comedy bits that more often than not, don’t quite work. With a hearty climax, the film is an overall mildly entertaining affair.