Review of Red Road (2006) by Suzzane Z — 06 Jul 2007

Winner of the Prix du Jury at Cannes, Red Road is a powerful film where motivations are deliberately kept at a distance until approximately two thirds of the way into the film. Jackie (Kate Dickie), a policewoman whose job it is to watch a bank of CCTV monitors for any suspicious behaviour, scans the screens daily, 'living' through the bland lives of others; she seems out of touch with her own life and so finds comfort in watching the cleaner in an office block sing to herself or the man walking his overweight, obviously ill dog.

One night in front of the screens, she spots a couple having sex behind a wall. She continues watching, on the cusp of sexual arousement when she zooms in further and briefly focuses on the man, who it seems she immediately recognises.

From here on in and for a long time it's not clear exactly who the man is or what his actions have done to Jackie, but he has evidently hurt her somehow in the past. She continues watching him obsessively; first going from camera to camera as he walks the streets or drives in has van, and then physically by practically stalking him in the poverty-stricken area of Glasgow where he lives (Red Road refers to a tower block housing estate complex, as well as possibly describing the journey Jackie goes on).

Red Road is an urban, gritty, somewhat depressing and at times almost unbearably tense film (the scene where Jackie and Clyde, the man she is following, see each other in a pub is especially hard to watch) where things gradually make sense: central to this is an absolutely mesmerising, bravura sex scene where tables are turned in one moment and the true story begins to take shape.

The final section of the film has, understandably perhaps, been criticised for lessening the impact of what has gone before by giving closure to the characters and making the film more morally acceptable, but it also makes for a more rewarding viewing experience.

The performances from Kate Dickie and Tony Curran are both astonishing; their characters hold many secrets but they manage to make them sympathetic and believable even as they do questionable things. Oscar winner Andera Arnold has written and directed an astonishing, menacing, exhilarating and emotionally exhausting film that deserves to be heralded as a future classic.