Red Road (2006)

Jackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice, she is compelled to confront him.

Director:

Andrea Arnold

Writers:

Andrea Arnold, Lone Scherfig (characters)

Stars:

Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston

22 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Dickie	...	Jackie
Tony Curran	...	Clyde
Martin Compston	...	Stevie
Natalie Press	...	April
Paul Higgins	...	Avery
Andrew Armour	...	Alfred
Carolyn Calder	...	Cleaner
John Comerford	...	Man With Dog
Jessica Angus	...	Bronwyn
Martin McCardie	...	Angus
Martin O'Neill	...	Frank
Cora Bisset	...	Jo
Charles Brown	...	Broomfield Barman
Annie Bain	...	Aunt Kath
Frances Kelly	...	Woman in Denim Skirt

Storyline

Whilst working as a CCTV operator in Glasgow's working-class Red Road estate, Jackie sees a face from the past, a face that she thought would no longer haunt her dreams. Keeping her distance, and with the use of her CCTV cameras, she follows the face and the man and she finally decides to confront him. It is here that past lives are once again entwined and reconciliations are aired.

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Plot Keywords:

female explicit nudity | cunnilingus | alliterative title | labia | outdoor sex | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Andrea Arnold conducted the casting with Morag McKinnon and Mikkel Nørgaard as all the actors would be reused in their films.

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Goofs

The video screens in the surveillance centre do not show the date and time, which would severely limit their usefulness as filmed evidence in real life. The date and time have clearly been disabled to avoid continuity errors in filming. The 'shadow' of the numbers is however visible.

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Quotes

Clyde: [seeing Jackie for the first time] Have we met?
Jackie: Yeah, I saw you at a cafe.
Clyde: Right. At a cafe.
[Clyde takes Jackie's hand and they both start to dance]

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Connections

Followed by Donkeys (2010)

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Soundtracks

Cha Cha Slide
(M. Thompson)
Performed by D.J. Casper
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd.
(c) 1999 Master recording used by kind permission of Imperial Records

User Reviews

Unknown Loss

The setup is simple. We are voyeurs watching a woman whose job it is to watch surveillance cameras. She gets engaged with a specific subject, leaving the camera and entering the reality. We do as well, but the reason she does so is held in tension as a mystery. She clearly is repulsed while simultaneously attracted, but things take a very long time. By the end, you learn why.

But for nearly two hours, because you are folded into this, you suffer the incredible loss this woman has. She knows what that loss is, but you do not, which makes it ever the more effective. Because you can fill it in with the loss you know, and you can fall as deeply as you ever have.

It is a profound construction. Disturbing. Cinematic. Visual, Folded.

I study redheads in film, and what they stand for. In Hollywood, the dynamic is different than in the UK. There, an overt racism overlays the thing: redheads are from Ireland, and the Irish are at the bottom of the social scale. "Gingers" are considered rare and alluring in the US, while in England there is a vile connotation.

The guy here, the fellow we fear because he is so low class in this tattered landscape, he is a ginger. The road factors into the plot in a few different ways. Red does as well.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Verve Pictures [UK]

Country:

UK Denmark

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 2006 (UK)

Also Known As:

Red Road

Filming Locations:

Barmulloch, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,009, 15 April 2007

Gross USA:

$154,892

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,128,345

Company Credits

Production Co:

Advanced Party Scheme, BBC Films, Glasgow Film Office

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1