Indie of the Month - Red Road

Red Road, geographically, is in the North of Glasgow, and is not the sort of place you want to be late at night. 'Red Road' the film is set in and around there, and won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes.

Written and directed by Andrea Arnold, it follows Jackie (Dickie), whose job is monitoring CCTV cameras all over Glasgow. One day, she sees a man called Clyde (Curran) whom she thought was still in jail. She starts to spy on him with the cameras, but then begins entering into his life, with what Clyde actually did only gradually being revealed and Kate's actions, which seem bizarre at times, eventually becoming clear.

This is Andrea Arnold's debut feature, but she has experience: she won the best Short film Oscar in 2005, made a couple of shorts before that, and before that was even a kids TV presenter (on Number 73, if you remember it). This may explain why 'Red Road' is such an assured film, a brilliantly acted slow-burner that is compelling to the end. It's been made as part of an intriguing Lars von Trier initiated scheme called "The Advance Party", whereby certain characters have to be incorporated into different films set in Scotland. This is the first, and if it's successful then we'll be seeing more of these characters.

That aside, this film uses the main characters, Jackie and Clyde, superbly. There are some excellent sequences too, such as when Jackie follows Clyde for the first time, virtually a silent film, or the extremely realistic pub fight, far different from Hollywood bar brawls. The film unfolds quietly and at its own pace, which may be too slow for some. But stick with it, because 'Red Road' definitely goes somewhere. [Keir Hind]