Red Road (2006)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Andrea Arnold

Writers:

Andrea Arnold (writer)
Anders Thomas Jensen (characters)

Release Date:

27 October 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Jackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice, she is compelled to confront him. |

Plot Keywords:

Cctv | Scotland | Cunnilingus | Safe Sex | Bird

Awards:

21 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Kate Dickie	...	Jackie
Tony Curran	...	Clyde
Martin Compston	...	Stevie
Natalie Press	...	April
Paul Higgins	...	Avery
Andrew Armour	...	Alfred
Carolyn Calder	...	Cleaner
John Comerford	...	Man With Dog
Jessica Angus	...	Brownyn
Martin McCardie	...	Angus
Martin O'Neill	...	Frank
Cora Bisset	...	Jo
Charles Brown	...	Broomfield Barman
Annie Bain	...	Aunt Kath
Frances Kelly	...	Woman in Denim Skirt

Runtime:

France:113 min (Cannes Film Festival) | USA:113 min

Country:

UK | Denmark

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:12 | Italy:VM14 | USA:Unrated | Australia:R | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | France:U (with warning) | New Zealand:R18

Filming Locations:

Barmulloch, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Company:

Advanced Party Scheme

Trivia:

Andrea Arnold conducted the casting with Morag McKinnon and Mikkel Nørgaard as all the actors would be reused in their films.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The video screens in the surveillance centre do not show the date and time, which would severely limit their usefulness as filmed evidence in real life. The date and time have clearly been disabled to avoid continuity errors in filming. The 'shadow' of the numbers is however visible.

Quotes:

Clyde: [seeing Jackie for the first time] Have we met?
Jackie: Yeah, I saw you at a cafe.
Clyde: Right. At a cafe.
[Clyde takes Jackie's hand and they both start to dance]

Movie Connections:

Followed by Rounding Up Donkeys (2009)

Soundtrack:

Morning Glory

A lovely film that truly surprises

I saw "Red Road" at Cannes, and it was my pick as best film almost to the end, beaten out only by "Pan's Labyrinth". The film keeps you off balance throughout because you are not told what to think of events; they simply unfold without explanation until the events themselves necessitate dialogue between the two main characters. Not knowing becomes rather vexing because you are always trying to figure out why the protagonist does so much that you feel is wrong, but it's all just part of the fun. And the kind of storytelling I enjoy most. It reminded me of "Exotica", another film I loved. Too, the faces of the actors are relatively unfamiliar which adds to the mystery, since they carry no "baggage" from previous films to the characters.

There doesn't seem to be a distributor connected to this movie yet, and we'd really lose out if it doesn't get to the U.S.