Andrea Arnold must be one of the finest and at the same time twisted directors working in Britain today. I have seen only two of her feature films to date, and they both ooze style and class. Her ideas, particularly in crafting the screenplay is very original and exciting. Both the films I’ve seen are exquisite little gems and have rightly been very well received in festival circuits and competitions.
Like her 2006 mystery drama, “Red Road”, which won a BAFTA and also at Cannes among many others. I’m even surprised it didn’t win more accolades considering the screenplay is so well done – the film takes on the air of a gripping thriller, and the climax is very well constructed. The direction is as in-your-face as it is charming. As for the editing, I never knew CCTV footage could be used in as exciting a manner, even if I loath its very invention – an Orwellian concept of some big brother watching over us children – and it is not an over-reaction because we in Britain have had to put up with this indignity like no other country. I was also surprised that so much production value could be achieved with as small a budget (talking of which, the film was partly funded from the National Lottery proceedings – an excellent use of public money if you ask me). The cinematography is of high quality, and the soundtrack appealing. Also noteworthy are the convincing performances from the actors playing the lead characters – Kate Dickie and Tony Curran. This is a beautiful yet sinister film, it was a revelation to me when I first saw it, and therefore, Highly Recommended Viewing..!
Amazon Blu-ray Link (superb value for money)
Storyline: (truncated)
Jackie, a widow, works at a security agency monitoring public CCTV around a Glaswegian housing estate. One day she recognises a face from the past and keeps a tab on him until she decides to confront its owner, Clyde, face-to-face. And what a confrontation this turns out to be! We will learn what Jackie’s obsession was all about, and perhaps also understand her reasoning…
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Compilation: Kate Dickie
Made from two scenes, while the first is a brief one of Jackie getting ready to go out, the second is positively ‘wicked’. Jackie not only confronts Clyde but also ends up in his flat. While we’re led to believe that Clyde’s the one in control, it is Jackie who’s actually calling the shots. Jackie is brilliantly played by unconventional beauty Kate Dickie. The scene is as erotic as it is twisted – sexy and dirty in a very British way, and also includes some brief moments of explicit nudity. Watch out for a cringe-worthy scene towards the very end which I’m not even going to mention here..! 😉
Kate Dickie in some scenes from Andrea Arnold's exuberant British drama, "Red Road".
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Fantastic!! Thanks a lot,a great movie
Thanks for this, yes great film, saw it originally on CH4 a while ago in SD.You are right about the value of the Bluray on Amazon, where thankfully more of the “Arthouse” type of films can be had on BR quite reasonably.
You’re welcome – I missed it on TV but the blu-ray isn’t bad at all, even if I still have a lingering doubt whether this film was originally meant to be shown in full-frame.
As for Amazon, you can get some amazingly good deals there, but… 🙂
Sometimes if the offer is too good to be true, there’ll probably be a reason – it would’ve been an edited/censored version (older NTSC formats are notoriously cut), or could simply be a poor quality stamping.
Also depends on the kind of transfer – full frame, letterboxed, or anamorphic etc. For someone who buys them all the time, I too occasionally end up buying more than one version because the previous slightly ‘cheaper’ one was atrocious.
The ones I recommend here have usually gone through the process of testing and therefore safe to buy.
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thank god for blu-ray, I knew it was an explicit scene but I didn’t know she showed quite that much 😛 I agree it is a good movie. It seemed kind of slow at first, but then once I realized what she was doing it was really good. I don’t remember liking the ending though.
I know the ending might have been quite different had it been a Hollywood film. But then I’m so glad it isn’t… 🙂
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