RED ROAD
UK, 2006, 113 minutes, Colour.
Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, Natalie Press.
Directed by Andrea Arnold.
This is one that you definitely have to stay until the end if you are to appreciate the film as a whole. Not that many audiences will not be tempted to give up during the first half and even beyond.
Red Road is in Glasgow and has a huge block of flats which are continuously under surveillance, as is the whole area, by the city security cameras. Jackie watches the screens – and we watch Jackie watching the screens. She gets the chance sometimes to change screens! We are being asked to share the pace of her work, the boredom, the curiosity, the alerts. (It is very easy during our surveillance of Jackie to let our minds wander – far away.) She sees a married man for a brief rendezvous every fortnight. She goes to a family wedding. She lives quietly and alone.
For a lot of the film, she is curious about a paroled prisoner, watches him, follows him, even goes to a party at his flat. We have gathered that Jackie has been married, then, that her husband and daughter have died. And the penny drops. Once it drops the film becomes far more interesting, as we try to guess what Jackie is going to do. When she does it, we are forcibly made voyeurs, at length, to her vengeance. But there seems to be no catharsis. But, if we wait longer, this does come and brings the film to a satisfactory conclusion (except for the missable end credits song, ‘Love can tear us apart’.
So, it does come together, slow pace, intense close-up on Jackie, the enigmas, mystery and all.
Kate is played with some self-sacrificing intensity by Kate Dickie. Red Road is a first feature from Andrea Arnold (Oscar winner, 2005 for Best live action short film). It is the first in a trilogy, backed by Zentropa (with memories of Dogme) where the same characters will appear in three films. The other directors are Lonne Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) and Anders Thomas Jensen.
1.The planned trilogy? Red Road as one part? One perspective? The complementarity of characters and themes from the other films?
2.The Glasgow settings, authentic? The city itself, Red Road as a neighbourhood, the streets, the shops, the flats, the people walking in the streets? An environment? The interiors of the surveillance office, the flats? The surrounding countryside? A real feel for this Scottish place? The musical score?
3.The surveillance theme? Jacqui and her work, at work, the multiple screens, her watching, zooming? Following people – the cleaner, the man with the dog (and her being next to him, his sick dog, his new dog at the end)? The stabbing of the girl and calling the police? Her interest in Clyde Anderson? The help from the other members of the group? The audience and its surveillance of Jacqui watching?
4.The slow pace, the experience of surveillance, the accumulation of mundane details? The tedium? Her tedious life, work, the fortnightly meeting, the break with her going to the wedding? At home? Her taking the tapes home and watching them?
5.The audience gradually discovering her grief, the information from the wedding, her father-in-law and his attitude, the talk in the corridor, her aunt, the fact that she danced at her wedding? The issue of the burial of the bodies?
6.The wedding sequence, a break in her life, her unwillingness to come, the exuberance of the bride and the family, the singing and dancing, her leaving?
7.Her seeing Clyde, following up the information about his being let out of prison, following him with surveillance, in the lot with the woman, the sex? The truck, ringing the phone number? In the café, watching him? The decision to go to the party, getting in, the meeting with Stevie and April, the discussions, getting something of his background? Meeting him, the dance, his proposition? Her going? Her going to the pub, pretending to meet someone, meeting him, his saving Stevie? His provocative language, the invitation to come to the flat, her decision to go?
8.The sexual encounter, the audience as voyeurs, complicit with Jacqui, the long sequence? Seeing her put her plan into action, the injury, the semen, the framing for the rape? Reporting him, his arrest? Her going to the shelter, the aftermath, her change of mind?
9.The encounter with Clyde in the street, talking to him, wanting to hear about the accident? His description? The discussion about his daughter, her telling him that the daughter had come to his flats?
10.The character of Clyde, the initial puzzle, ex-convict, Jacqui following him, the sex in the lot, the truck, his saying he wanted to go straight, not getting any phone calls? His friends, behaviour in the café, licking the plate, with the waitress? The party, his approach to Jacqui, Stevie reporting his comments afterwards? The pub, chatting up Jacqui, his getting Stevie away from his father, breaking up the fight? The compassion? The reasonable talking with Jacqui, in the parking lot? Taking her back, their sexual encounter? His anger, his being framed? His explanation about his daughter, not knowing her, Jacqui seeing the exchange after school, Jacqui telling him that she had come to the Red Road flats?
11.Stevie and April, Stevie and his time in the cell, his defence of Clyde? April coming from London? In love with Stevie? Stevie and the incident with Jacqui’s visit, the wind, lifting up April – and her reaction? His stealing Jacqui’s purse? His fight with his father in the pub? His coming into Jacqui’s flat and threatening her?
12.The married man, the fortnightly encounter, Jacqui breaking with him, his anger?
13.The father-in-law, his visit to the house, his comments on the garden, the grief about the dead son? The end, Jacqui visiting Brenda and the father-in-law, the talk, the photos, the discussion about the burial at Loch Lomond?
14.The audience experience of sharing with Jacqui, the long experience, it all coming together in the end?
