Red Road

Red Road ***1/2

Directed by Andrea Arnold
Written by Andrea Arnold, based on characters devised by Anders Thomas Jensen

Starring:
Kate Dickie as Jackie
Tony Curran as Clyde
Martin Compston as Stevie
Nathalie Press as April

113 Minutes(Not Rated-Sex, Nudity, Language, Some Violence)
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"Red Road" is nearly a masterpiece-a tense thriller drama with little dialogue, but it doesn't need it. It is also the second film in a row that I have seen where the main character is a woman, and Kate Dickie plays her part more convincingly and more stylish than Molly Shannon did in the dreadful "Year of the Dog." This is the first feature film from director Andrea Arnold, whose excellent short film "Wasp" won the Academy Award for best live action short two years ago. And she directs "Red Road" as if she's been directing for years, and can easily be put into a category a few steps away from Hitchcock.

Arnold's brilliant script follows Jackie, a CCTV operator who watches over a part of her Scotland town, keeping an eye on the folks who live there. She looks for crimes or any troubles, and if she sees something of the sort she'll report it. Kind of like a "1984" type of thing-Big Sister, perhaps, or Mother. And she kind of knows the characters that she watches, including a dog walker and a lonely woman who stares outside her window. One day she is watching and she notices a man having sex with a hooker in a little clearing, and when the man turns around she is stunned to see someone that she hoped she would never see again. Jackie begins to follow him-into a coffee shop, and eventually into his home when she "crashes" a party. He doesn't seem to recognizes her, whatever his connection to her is, and all we know if that he was just released from jail for good behavior, and it will be very easy to go back if he does even the smallest thing wrong. And whatever she is planning, and whatever her motives are, will slowly unfold. . .

I refuse to ruin anything for the viewer, and the final twist ends up being one that caught me off guard, even though when one thinks of it it is somewhat obvious. Kate Dickie plays the character so well, never really giving us a clue to her past while she follows this man(Clyde) around. There is a brief mention about what her motives could be in the beginning, but I almost forgot about that and didn't remember until all was said. But you will question her constantly, call her crazy. At times I was practically pulling my hair out in tension about why she was doing certain things. And what was her relationship with this man? Does she fear him? Did he do something to her? Why is she following him if she clearly doesn't wish to be associated with him? And that is how you know that "Red Road" is effective-when it allows the viewer to interact with the characters. This is an absolutely fascinating character film and a great mellow thriller. There is not a single minute in the two hours that seems unneeded. Even the rather graphic sex scene proved a point, and fit into the mosaic of the film without seeming tacked on and overly explicit. It is hard to discuss "Red Road" without getting into details, suffice to say that this is a film that you will get sucked into. You will not be conscious of time, and you will try to sit in complete silence so as not to destroy the trance it holds on you. I would even go so far as to say this is something to watch in the theatre, without any distraction or outside influence. Sadly, "Red Road" will probably go completely under the radar, when it is exactly the type of film I wish I saw more of.