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Red Road

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

This is the first film of a trilogy adhering to the "Dogme" principles, which eschew special effects in favor of a more natural style of filmmaking. It's part of a concept called "The Advance Party," where three directors assemble in Scotland to create films in which the same actors play the same characters as developed by Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen.

After "Red Road" grabbed the Cannes 2006 Grand Jury Prize under its belt, the film traveled through the festival circuit, leaving its strong impression of human alienation. In the hands of director Andrea Arnold, the film portrayed an intrusion into private life that shows a provocative view of female sexuality at the same time.

In the cold and brittle urban landscape of northern Scotland, at the tower blocks of Glasgow's Red Road estate, Jackie (Kate Dickie), a female surveillance operator, monitors the movements of passers-by on a bank of security-camera monitors. She spends her nights looking at multi-screen footage of working-class Glaswegians in rather absorbing detail. such as bleak landscapes of vacant lots, foul-mouthed drunks, and a guy walking his dog. Merely a daily routine for her until she glimpses a familiar face from her haunted past in one of the monitors--Clyde(Tony Curran), an ex-con who's gotten out of prison for good behavior. 

Jackie soon shows an obsessive interest in Clyde. After observing him for days, she starts to follow him and sneaks inside his high-rise apartment, crashing his party and getting to know his friends. As we watch the film, we become increasingly fearful for her safety. Finally, when she's sure that he doesn't recognized her, she decides to take action at great risk of talking to him and putting herself out there to revenge him.

Throughout the film, her mysterious past continues to devour her, paving the way for an unexpected ending. Later we realize that Arnold intentionally leaves significant points open for discussion. Actress Kate Dickie utters only minimal dialogue with facial expressions of frightened eyes and tense skin, which draws us deeper into this paranoia-inducing yet thought-provoking release. It's an incredibly bold film that doesn't make for easy viewing, yet offers an unflinching take on human solitude. There is one piece of dialogue from Clyde that sums up the film:  "She was loved; some people don't get a lot."

Written and directed by Andrea Arnold
Director of photography:Robbie Ryan
Edited by Nicolas Chauderge
Produced by Carrie Comerford
Released by Tartan Films.
Running time: 113 minutes.
This film is not rated.

Cast: Kate Dickie (Jackie)
Tony Curran (Clyde)
Martin Compston (Stevie),
and Natalie Press (April).