Off the Map

This whimsical if somewhat obscure desert movie, adapted by Joan Ackermann from her own play, is in the likeable vein of Bagdad Café. A taxman ventures deep into New Mexico to audit the books of a gloomy, catatonic homesteader (Elliott) who lives with his family in a home without so much as a telephone. The winsome, Wonder Years-style voice-over which begins the film (spoken by Elliott's daughter) is an irritation, but there's a deadpan, surrealist humour here which is very easy to warm to. Allen excels as the free-thinking, hippyish wife and Elliott, though he seldom speaks, has gravitas and screen presence a-plenty. Director Scott strikes a leisurely but beguiling tempo.