Red Road
What:
Red Road
Where:
Cinema Nova
When:
Opens Thurs Oct 11
Watch the trailer:
here (but don't unless you absolutely have to, okay? It gives too much away...)
Here's the deal: Red Road is the first in a loose trilogy called "The Advance Party". New directors were given a set of characters - defined by traits like their romantic history, religious background, and moral failings - and told to tell a story involving them.
An interesting narrative experiment? Or exactly the kind of arthouse wankery you'd expect once you hear that Lars Von Trier is involved? It doesn't matter, because Red Road absolutely stands alone, and is an amazing start for first-timer Andrea Arnold. (Don't be too nervous for her. Her short films have won Oscars.)
Jackie is employed to watch Glasgow through the lenses of hundreds of CCTV cameras. When she sees someone from her past back on the streets, she stops paying attention to the city and spirals down into obsession. That doesn't begin to tell you how surprising this drama becomes as it unreels.
There are only one or two moments where the hand of the director drops down to arrange the action like a skill-tester claw; otherwise, these are the kind of genuinely complicated characters cinema needs more often, who pluck at your sympathies in unexpected ways.
Format: Cinema
Mood: Rad
Keywords: Andrea Arnold, Cinema Nova
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