Red Road

Released Apr 14, 2007

1 hr. 53 min.

Drama

List

87%

91 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Jackie (Kate Dickie) spends her days monitoring a series of surveillance cameras trained on a rough Glasgow neighborhood. She spots Clyde (Tony Curran), an ex-convict, on one of the screens, then becomes obsessed with him. When she devises a plan to meet and seduce him, the reason for her obsession becomes clear.

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Critics Consensus

Red Road director Andrea Arnold skillfully parses out just enough plot details at a time to keep the audience engrossed in this seductive thriller.

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Audience Member

You're not sure who she's following on the CCTV cams at work, or why she's obsessed with him. When she gets close to trapping him for a crime he didn't commit, her motivation becomes clear...and the guilt is revealed.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Between 2.5 and 3. Long, slow -it catches you somehow, but it is too much- and with not much (even spoiled in some aspects) story, but it is the description, with truth, of an open pain, and that deserves respect.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

bill p

There are films that start out well where the cinematography is good, the dialogue is good, the actors and the characters are strong and not over done or under done. The milieu is beautifully expressed (it's the rough end of Glasgow) and things are suggested not pushed in your face. And the film continues like this, as little bits of the plot unfold, we are drawn into the main character's life without any over-explicit storytelling or heavy handed flash backs. Yes it keeps on being good on a level for some time. For some time. You begin to suspect that something is up - well you know that something is up but it hasn't yet been revealed. The film has a slow stately pace, an accurate and sharp depiction of the shabby and poor area of Glasgow in which it is set. It's good film- making, skilful storytelling, well directed, realistically and convincingly acted. But you begin to get just a little bit bored, a little bit uninterested (well if you are me you do). You know the plot twist will come in its own good time, and you suspect it will be worthy of the suspense and the acting so far, but you just can't be bothered to wait. There's enough time left for the film to take a few twists and turns, we're just into the middle hour of obfuscation and misdirection before, what, a half hour to tidy it all up and make a story of it with a coherent beginning, middle and end? If I had been in the cinema I think the big picture immersion, the fact of watching with an audience, the sense of being IN a story, not sitting on the couch with partial detachment always on the cards would have kept me watching. Here I can get snacks or tea or drinks easily, hit the pause button so that I don't miss anything - which in fact I did after, the first ten minutes, hit the pause button when I went out of the room because the filming was so atmospheric and interesting and I didn't want to miss anything. I do walk out of films in the cinema too it must be said, sometimes I just can't bear to wait and watch until the whole damn things drags itself to a filmic close, or the film is so bad I just can't bear to watch it anymore. I won't name these films, it just upsets people. So later though, from my sofa based theatre, I just got up to go out the room, to look up the plot in Wikipedia to check whether I would be missing out on anything astounding (I don't think I was). The plot was a little far-fetched maybe, certainly (sort of spoiler here - hope you don't skim read on ahead like I do) miserable and a bit contrived. So I made my wife some fruit tea and started to write this review instead. It has crossed my mind that people will read a little way down this piece, think oh gawd what's he on about, maybe I'll make a cup of tea or click on some Buzznet specials. So it goes.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

andrey k

This film is very grim and realistic looking in portrayal of Scottish life. The weak point of this movie is that its strongest part is visuals since the story loses its early mystery quality towards the middle part of the movie when it becomes obvious that the man she is following has done something wrong to Jackie. But in overall it's a good thriller; sometimes it's necessary to solve the problems of the past to go on with your life.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

What thought might be a grim slice of Ken Loach-style social realism, or even [rec]-style horror, actually turns out be a deeply moving study of grief, loss and regret. Superb film.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A film to think about it

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

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Andrea Arnold

Director

Kate Dickie

Jackie

Tony Curran

Clyde

Martin Compston

Stevie

Natalie Press

April

Andrew Armour

Alfred

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Cliff Doerksen

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

John Monaghan

Detroit Free Press

Unfortunately, its superb performances and assured camerawork are overwhelmed by dubious psychology and a clichéd climax.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 26, 2007

Full Review

Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Like the Peeping Tom-paranoia of similar recent films Disturbia and Civic Duty, this finely crafted debut feature by Scottish writer/director Andrea Arnold packs a wallop.

Rated: 3/4

Jun 29, 2007

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Red Road is more than a view into the filmmaker that Arnold would and will become. It stands alone, by any comparison, as a difficult, great film.

Feb 20, 2024

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Projected Figures

a long, dark and twisted journey..., scrutinising the shadier contours of human loss and guilt like a grainy face on a screen.

Jan 1, 2022

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...an erratic yet mostly rewarding debut...

Rated: 3/4

Nov 29, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Jackie (Kate Dickie) spends her days monitoring a series of surveillance cameras trained on a rough Glasgow neighborhood. She spots Clyde (Tony Curran), an ex-convict, on one of the screens, then becomes obsessed with him. When she devises a plan to meet and seduce him, the reason for her obsession becomes clear.

Director: Andrea Arnold
Executive Producer: Gillian Berrie, Sisse Graum Jørgensen
Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold
Distributor: Tartan
Production Co: Sigma, Zentropa Entertainments
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 14, 2007, Limited
Release Date (DVD): Aug 28, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $153.4K