Review of Red Road (2006) by Lady D — 01 Jul 2007

Another film that falls into the 'dark and disturbing' category. This one is from Scotland, and is basically the story of a woman named Jackie (Kate Dickie), who works for a security company, where her job involves watching a bank of video monitors all day.

If the film is to be believed, practically the entire city of Glasgow is covered by video cameras. I don't know if this is true or not, but you either accept it or turn the movie off 5 minutes in.

I chose to accept it and move on. It's very slow going, as we're introduced to the apparent desolation of Jackie's life - her dingy, joyless apartment; the quick, meaningless sex with a co-worker in the front seat (!) of a company vehicle, etc.

She appears to be nothing more than a zombie, stumbling through her empty existence. She seems more alive at work, with her video monitors, than anywhere else. Then, one day , she sees a man on one of her monitors that she thinks she recognizes, but apparently this man is supposed to be in prison.

We don't know why he's supposed to be in prison, or how she knows this. We're never told. But, for whatever reason, Jackie is very upset when she discovers it is the man she knows, and he's been given an early release.

She starts watching the man on her monitors at work, and then following him, and eventually confronting him in person. She seems to have a plan in mind, but we have no idea what she intends to do or why.

There are no scenes where she tells someone else what she's going to do, so the audience is left to try to figure things out for itself. I think this is one of the strengths of the film. The film is very bleak, and it paints a very unflattering picture of Glasgow, but I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

I suppose it's the 'car wreck' syndrome in effect, where you're horrified by what you're seeing, but you can't look away. There's a scene of graphic sex that's almost brutal in it's naked honesty, and again it almost makes you feel like you should look away, but you can't.

At least I couldn't. The resolution at the end almost seems like it was tacked on to soften the harshness of the film, but I think it weakens it. After being told nothing throughout the film, I would rather have been left to make my own conclusions, which the film has practically programmed you to do.

But, having said that, it's still a very compelling piece of film-making that, at times, feels almost too real. I can't say I 'enjoyed' the film, but I certainly appreciated the craft that went into making it.

It's not for all tastes, but fans of 'out there' cinema will probably admire it, as I did.