New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

Follow Me

• Dark Shadows ***
• Darling Companion **1/2
• God Bless America ***
• Marvel's The Avengers ***1/2
• ReGeneration ***
• Sound of My Voice ***
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits ***1/2
• The Raven ***
• Safe **1/2
• The Lucky One 1/2*
• 4:44 Last Day on Earth **1/2
• Blue Like Jazz **
• The Cabin in the Woods ***1/2
• Damsels in Distress ***1/2
• Lockout **1/2
• The Three Stooges ***
• The Turin Horse ****
• We Have a Pope **1/2
• American Reunion **
• Goon ***
• More

• Bird of Paradise
• Maniac Cop
• Miss Representation
• Mother's Day (2012)
• Murder Obsession
• Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie
• Underworld Awakening
• The Vow
• Clueless
• Haywire
• Hit!
• Men in Black
• New Year's Eve
• The Red House
• More

• Peter Lord
• Abel Ferrara
• Nicholas Sparks
• Whit Stillman
• Sean Hayes
• Terence Davies
• Peter Lord Interview
• Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Taika Waititi
• Will Ferrell
• Interview: Ewan McGregor [SF Examiner]
• Interview: the 'Project X' stars [SF Examiner]
• Interview: Oren Moverman
• Interview: Rachel McAdams
• Interview: Ti West
• Interview: Elizabeth Banks
• 2011: The Year's Best Films
• Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
• The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
• My Top 100 Films [Updated]
• My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
• Christmas Movies
• Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
• Cult Movies
• More Features and Interviews

• Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
• Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
• James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
• Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
• More Books

• Home
• Reviews A-C
• Reviews D-F
• Reviews G-J
• Reviews K-M
• Reviews N-Q
• Reviews R-T
• Reviews U-Z

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Red Road (2007)

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Screen Bee

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Red Road on DVD

English director Andrea Arnold won a 2004 Oscar for her live action short Wasp and now joins the Advanced Party Concept, a collective similar to "Dogme 95" with its own rules (two other films are forthcoming). Given a set of pre-existing characters, Arnold crafts her story around the morosely sexy CCTV operator Jackie (Kate Dickie), watching over a bank of security monitors. One day, she spots a familiar face that causes her great concern. The film doesn't explain who this man is or his relationship with Jackie. Rather than playing into a gimmick, Arnold unfolds her story, gradually, patiently, from Jackie's point of view. Arnold also considers the grungy Glasgow locations, cast in natural, overcast light. Dickie's mesmerizing performance uses similar patterns: moody and cloud-covered. Please also see my long review at Cinematical.com

DVD Details: Tartan's 2007 DVD comes with Arnold's extraordinary, Oscar-winning short film Wasp, a heartbreaking tale of a family falling apart. Otherwise, the disc includes a Red Road trailer, a photo gallery and optional subtitles.

Starring: Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, Nathalie Press, Andrew Armour, Paul Higgins
Written by: Andrea Arnold, based on characters created by Anders Thomas Jensen, Lone Scherfig
Directed by: Andrea Arnold
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 113 minutes
Date: May 4, 2007