Review of Red Road (2006) by Carol S — 26 May 2007

The first entry from director Andrea Arnold shows a lot of promise, but isn't the challenging, idea-driven film it might have been had all the ideas presented been explored. Arnold certainly has a lot of talent in drawing out suspense without making the proceedings dull or uninteresting; a substantial majority of the running time is dedicated to watching main character Jackie stalk and spy on unsuspecting Clyde, and trying to piece together what it is that makes him so ponderous reminded me of the long trailing scene in Hitchcock's [i]Vertigo[/i], which is a monumentous compliment.

However, once we discover why it is that Jackie is drawn to Clyde, the film loses its punch, and feels more loike a plot-driven piece than anything else, leaving me feeling somewhat cheated. In the beginning of the film, Jackie is shown sitting in front of a large bank of TV monitors gazing at dozens of surveillance images.

She seems to get a kick out of watching normal people unawares as they walk their dogs or dance around in their living rooms, blissfully oblivious. This image reminded me of another Hitchock film, [i]Rear Window[/i], which invited you to take part in the voyeuristic fun, as [i]Red Road [/i]does.

Jackie can use a lever to move and alter the camera angles on whatever screen she chooses, much as if she were creating her own film. She is clearly lonely, as her home life only serves to emphasize, and starved of sensuality.

..the first time we see her having sex, she is constrained inside a car, her face up against the window, and she consumates even faster than her hyper-sensitive partner, who only has sex with her when he can get away from his wife.

All of these elements paint a complex relationship of obsessive observation and sexual longing, and indeed the nature of film to the senses itself. Or at least it would, in the hands of a director who seemed to care about those issues.

Arnold seems content to let these ideas float in the background in favor of a more straightforward narrative involving Jackie's personal struggles, which in themselves make for decent movie-watching, but aren't nearly as intellectually engaging as they could be.

On the whole, the film was decent...but it could have been an early masterpiece.