Gareth Critchfield
Really great little movie in many ways. It doesn't try to be more than it is and in that ways stays well clear of more contrived dramas. Realistic relationships and charactersTrue to life and also i must mention (silently) that it had one particular scene that made me break down...which is something i so rarely do!!!! For you that have seen it and have wee little ones, you will undoubtedly know the scene i am talking aboutWatch it if you haven't yet. Its not perfect by any means but a solid little movie
MattyGibbs
This is a fairly simple film of a CCTV operator who notices a face from her past that she didn't want to see again. It follows Jackie as she infiltrates the life of the man from her past and tries to gain her revenge. It's a slow moving film and maybe it could have been cut down by 20 minutes but it does at least steadily improve towards to end. It boasts good performances from a strong cast which helps keep interest at the beginning. Red Road is not a particularly nice film to watch, the setting is grim and it's a darkly lit film which only adds to the general depressing nature of the film. There is nothing to lighten the mood and it also contains one of if not the most explicit sex scenes I've ever seen on film. However if you can get through the first hour then it does turn into a very effective drama. For a low budget film this is a very good effort and is worth at least one viewing.
Neddy Merrill
Scotland sure ain't Hollywood. Nothing in Andrea Arnold's Scotland breaks up the unremitting bleakness, the overcast coldness hovers above huge decaying housing blocks inhabited by criminals and miscreants of every sort. Kate Dickie's "Jackie" spends her days watching the ugliness and criminality from her job as a video patrolwoman. This exceedingly slow-moving movie drives forward glacially based on Jackie's rather peculiar effort at exacting revenge against the ex-con that accidentally took out her husband and daughter. Along the way to punishing the transgression she loses her way when she finds her feeling getting jumbled with curiosity and lust. If you can slog through the nearly 2 hour run time and its unleavened bleakness, the story eventually becomes compelling although Jackie nor any of the other characters do. However, making it to the interesting bits requires a willful effort to hold attention on the film as it doesn't do that for you. In short, if you seek to have a bad time at the movies, this is a good film for you.
ozjeppe
Mesmerizing account of security surveillance camera operator in Glasgow who one day, on one of her work monitors, spots a person who stirs up her personal past in unpredictably painful ways... and puts her in consequences that take the viewers on one of the best and roughest rides of the '00s! A small British miracle of a movie, thematically difficult and disturbing as it takes its time using minimal, low-key elements of social realism to carve out a story of edge-of-your-seat suspenseful thriller qualities and emotions of huge human drama that knocked the air out of me and left a big lump in my throat. Next to that, unforgettable, two-dimensional characterizations unfold just as brilliantly by simply showing and symbolizing (instead of overly telling) the action. This is film-making that is both masterful, sexually brave and movingly tragic as well as hopeful, with achingly good performances. For buffs, the stylistics with the surveillance camera topic view can almost unavoidably be discussed along with similar inputs from Antonioni's "Blow-up", Hitchcock's "Rear window" and Coppola's "The conversation" - as well with the gigantic ethical questions it raises, that are both timeless and contemporary: Can atonement be made, even with unforgivable crimes and long-time grief? Are Jackie's actions at all justified? What reverberations on privacy and authority responsibility does around-the-clock societal surveillance really have? Don't miss this one!9 out of 10 from Ozjeppe
AD
