Red Road

I blame Lars von Trier for anything that’s wrong with this film -- with his preposterous fixation on redemption through female sexual degradation (cf. Breaking the Waves, one of the rare films I cared about enough to hate). The Dogme 95 strictures are slipping by now, but I still find it an admirable approach to making films -- limited means lead to the largest payoffs. One might call that one of the central lessons of cinema history. The plan here was to have three filmmakers approach the same characters in the same setting and situation with the same actors. Up first was Andrea Arnold, who had won an Oscar for best live action short with Wasp (which is an extra on this dvd, and bumps the disk up to a firm recommendation from me -- with caveats.) She tells the story in a way that is suspenseful and sensual, while remaining quietly observational. Kate Dickie is riveting as a CCTV surveillance monitor for City Eye in Glasgow, the ultimate Rear Window situation, as she sits in front of a bank of monitors, calling up a particular view to pan and zoom on. She’s bereaved and numb, for reasons that emerge very gradually, and I won’t say more than that. There is gritty, underclass supporting work from Tony Curran, Martin Compston (memorable from Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen), and Nathalie Press (excellent as the focus for Wasp, and also memorable from My Summer of Love). Don’t worry, there are subtitles for the Glaswegian accents, and while this film is certainly down and dirty, you might call it Hitchcockian with all the kinks exposed. (2006, dvd, n.) *7-* (MC-73.)