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Off Kilter
- Jascha Slesers
- Unrepped
- Available
- Drama
- Pilot
- 72.6
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In 1980s Germany, a young boy with dreams of becoming a soccer player lives in poverty with an abusive, alcoholic father, a dire circumstance that prompts him to take on a life of crime to keep his dream alive.
After growing up in Saudi Arabia, a preteen boy and his siblings return to Germany with their ill mother and abusive father. There, they experience worsening poverty that drives the boy and his brother towards a life as thieves in local crime circles, but his emerging potential as a soccer star suggests a different future for him.
When his mother becomes ill, a young boy and his family must leave their home in Saudi Arabia to return to Germany, where the boy grapples with an abusive father who does not want the boy to pursue his dream of playing soccer. After the boy’s mother dies, his father abandons the family, and the boy is forced to commit crimes to survive.
Television
Crime, Drama, Period, Sports, School, Troubled Youth, Foreign Locale, Survival, Dysfunctional Family, Athlete, Childhood, Criminal, Death, Father, Father/Son, Football, Game, Illness, Parent, Parenthood, Poverty, Siblings, True Story, Violence/Violent
65
PG-13
Medium
M
White / European
10
Fit
I, Tonya, The Express, The Basketball Diaries, Mike (TV), Green Street Hooligans, Stand By Me, City of God, My Brilliant Friend (TV), All American (TV), Make It or Break It (TV)
1978, Several Months/1985, One Day
30% Saudi Arabia, including: a home, a construction site, an office, a doctor's office, city streets. 70% Germany, including: several homes, a school, a cemetery, a chop shop, a soccer field, cars, city streets.
In 1985, in Germany, LOUIS (17) runs from police but is injured and trapped in a boathouse. He imagines himself amidst an intense soccer match.
In 1978, Louis, brother OLIVER (9), sister MARIE (16), father FRIEDRICH (mid 40’s), and mother KARLA (40’s) live in Saudi Arabia, where the kids attend an international school. Friedrich works for a construction company, but his BOSS wants to send him to Australia for a new position. Friedrich is verbally abusive to Karla, and hard on the kids, locking Louis in a basement and nearly choking him for getting his clothes dirty during a soccer game.
Karla becomes ill and she’s advised to return to Germany for medical care. Friedrich is forced to give up his new position. Before the family leaves, Louis’ friend AKIF (13) teaches him to drive.
The family is forced to settle in a poor part of Freiburg, Germany. Friedrich thinks Karla is making the kids weak. Neighbor MR. GOTTLIEB (mid 60’s) calls the family “foreign trash.” The only job Friedrich can get is as a janitor. On Louis’ first day of school, he gets made fun of by bully HAROLD (?). Louis and Oliver admire older kids on mopeds.
Friedrich forces Louis to train as a...
In 1978, Louis, brother OLIVER (9), sister MARIE (16), father FRIEDRICH (mid 40’s), and mother KARLA (40’s) live in Saudi Arabia, where the kids attend an international school. Friedrich works for a construction company, but his BOSS wants to send him to Australia for a new position. Friedrich is verbally abusive to Karla, and hard on the kids, locking Louis in a basement and nearly choking him for getting his clothes dirty during a soccer game.
Karla becomes ill and she’s advised to return to Germany for medical care. Friedrich is forced to give up his new position. Before the family leaves, Louis’ friend AKIF (13) teaches him to drive.
The family is forced to settle in a poor part of Freiburg, Germany. Friedrich thinks Karla is making the kids weak. Neighbor MR. GOTTLIEB (mid 60’s) calls the family “foreign trash.” The only job Friedrich can get is as a janitor. On Louis’ first day of school, he gets made fun of by bully HAROLD (?). Louis and Oliver admire older kids on mopeds.
Friedrich forces Louis to train as a...