Red Road is a 2006 psychological thriller[3] film directed by Andrea Arnold and starring Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, and Natalie Press. It tells the story of a CCTV security operator who observes through her monitors a man from her past. It is named after, and partly set at, the Red Road Flats in Balornock, Glasgow, Scotland, which were the tallest residential buildings in Europe at the time they were built.[4] It was shot largely in a Dogme 95 style, using handheld cameras and natural light. The Observer polled several filmmakers and film critics who voted it as one of the best British films in the last 25 years.[5]
Red Road is the first film in Advance Party, a projected trilogy following a set of rules dictating how the films will be written and directed. They will all be filmed and set in Scotland, using the same characters and cast. Each film will be made by a different first-time director.[6]
Plot
Jackie Morrison works in Glasgow as a CCTV operator, monitoring the Red Road Flats. She lives alone and engages in occasional sex with married man Avery.
Jackie recognises a man she sees on the CCTV monitor and begins inquiring about him. It is revealed that he is Clyde Henderson, a prisoner who has been released early for good behaviour, but who will be back in prison immediately if he steps out of line. She begins stalking Clyde, tracking him on the CCTV monitors and gathering information about him. She follows Clyde to a cafe, and later learns he is throwing a party at the apartment he shares with a fellow ex-con by the name of Stevie. She gains entry to the party and begins exchanging looks with a drunk Clyde. They dance, but she makes an excuse and runs out of the apartment.
After spotting Clyde on CCTV heading to a local bar, she goes there and sees him break up a fight between Stevie and another man. Stevie and his girlfriend return to Clyde's apartment, while Clyde initiates a conversation with Jackie before inviting her back to the apartment too. Clyde reveals he has a daughter, with whom he regrets he has lost contact. Clyde and Jackie have passionate sex, but she runs from the bedroom and then sets Clyde up for a rape charge, striking her face with a stone and fleeing from the apartment block in view of the CCTV cameras. The police identify Clyde as the rapist and Jackie watches the arrest on CCTV, and a few moments later sees Clyde's daughter approach the apartment block. Later, Stevie gains entry to Jackie's home and demands to know why she has falsely accused Clyde. Jackie reveals that Clyde had killed her husband and daughter in a car accident.
Jackie relents and tells the police she wishes to withdraw the accusation of rape. After Clyde's release, Jackie confronts him and they argue: Clyde describes the road traffic accident that killed Jackie's husband and daughter, explaining that he lost control of the car. Jackie reveals that her last words to her daughter were harsh. She tells Clyde that his daughter tried to reach him on the day of his arrest, and they go their separate ways.
The cunnilingus scene between Tony Curran and Kate Dickie is so convincing that many critics believed it to be real, such as Stephen Dalton in his article "Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss". The simulation was achieved simply, through placing half a pear between Dickie's legs, which Curran licked and sucked, and angling the camera so as to not reveal the machinations of the mimicry.[7]
Reception
Critical response
On review-aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 88% based on 88 reviews, for an average rating of 7.3/10, the critical consensus stating: "Red Road director Andrea Arnold skillfully parses out just enough plot details at a time to keep the audience engrossed in this seductive thriller."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]
