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Sundance Review: Red Road

by Alex Billington
January 21, 2007

US Release Date: Sundance Film Fest 2007
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Running Time: 123 minutes
Directed by: Andrea Arnold
on IMDb
5/10

A quiet evening screening on Saturday night of the Jury Prize Winner in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Red Road. A very intriguing film, Red Road seems like a mystery at first, but becomes something much different. Jackie (Kate Dickie) works as a CCTV operator in Glasgow, Scotland monitoring TVs every night watching the same people over and over. One night she sees a man whom she never wanted to find again and must confront; a man that has a connection to her that is unknown and we must discover.

Red Road

I'm not really sure what to make of Red Road, but I can start by calling it very quietly mysterious. It's slow moving with little dialogue that only picks up as it nears the climax and conclusion at the end. Featuring some sexual scenes that would not even come close to making an R rating, the film is a drama that depends less on communication vocally and more on emotions and actions - a particular structure that was not at all effective, at least in my opinion, as it seems to differ per person. Even the reveal of who this guy was didn't hit as hard as it should have. Good performances all around, but nothing very memorable.

Red Road

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Related categories: Movie Reviews, Sundance 07

Logan

Just a note; if anyone see's this and wonders why Glasgow is such a cesspit of filfth, it's really not at all. One of the great touches of the movie was the locations and set dressing. Having seen the Red Road flats in person, their integrity to the gritty realism of the movie is really obvious. And most critics over here found its structure to be in fact, quite effective. http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_road/
Clara Petacci

god. americans are so stupid. and you write like a high school student. this isn't a review, it's like a book-report from a 15 year old. why is there so much sub-sub-sub-par blog garbage out here masquerading as film journalism. dreadful. 2 stars out of ten. rubbish. i'm sick of the rising tide of nitwit bloggers all getting cred on these sites. when will the filmmakers start talking back and taking these bozos down? enough already. oh, and yeah, red road is a fantastic film. bloody brilliant. simple, mysterious, CINEMATIC.