"Tell me how it happened...I just want to know...please!"

After an incident that left both of them bewildered and shocked, Jackie (Kate Dickie) confronts Clyde (Tony Curran). Clyde is someone from Jackie's past, but just how he's connected to her is still unknown. She simply crossed the street and started shouting at him, and he looks surprised and a bit afraid of her.

Red Road is the astonishing and unforgettable story of Jackie, a CCTV operator who must confront her past in order to wake up from the stupor of her self-imposed isolation.

“The film is called RED ROAD because it’s set in the Red Road flats,' explains Carrie Comerford, the film's producer. These flats are so recognizable that they have become a landmark in that part of Glasgow. But the film could have been made in any other city and Jackie’s story would remain the same.

As one of the CCTV operators, it is here that Jackie works. Everyday she monitors dozens of screens that feed live footage from cameras installed in the city. Here she constantly observes and watches its inhabitants, amused by their idiosyncracies and in a way, knowing them by familiarity. There is the elderly man who regularly walks his dog at night, the lady cleaner who dances her way into the office building while listening to her Walkman, the prostitute who tries to make conversation with a potential client, the young men who revel in their drunkenness on their way up to the flats…

These seemingly nameless ‘strangers’ are her constant companions. She knows them almost intimately, but they remain beyond her reach; she cannot talk to them or have them invite her for coffee. She watches silently, the cameras allowing her to observe them from a distance. Until one day, she sees someone, a man who has brought so much pain and sorrow. She watches him closely, wondering if she is not mistaken. Then she knows. She simply knows it is him. She decides its time to get closer and confront him.

What makes this film unique and memorable is the way the story is told. It has a deliberately slow pace and we see bits and pieces of various events - some are reminders of the past, and we learn that Jackie is a woman who has seen better days. Now she is isolated and alone, a choice she took upon herself. Although she has a family, we can feel the tension, for example when she attends her sister's wedding. As we follow her story, we learn that not everything is what it seems.

First-time director Andrea Arnold has created a film that is both powerful and poignant, hypnotic and mysterious. It is both a thriller and a modern take on noir. It’s an exploration of guilt and despair and ultimately of letting go, probing into the unknown and the familiar. Red Road is a powerful story with an amazing and intelligent cast. The two lead actors, Kate Dickie and Tony Curran, are particularly good. Dickie is unforgettable as Jackie - she portrays a woman on the verge of despair, but one who remains defiant and gutsy as she faces her tormentor. Curran puts in a strong performance as a man who has made too many mistakes, but who wants to live a straight life.

The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and also garnered major awards at the BAFTAs. There is a certain beauty and honesty in Red Road, something that is so uncommon today.

[ Official website ] [ Director Andrea Arnold's Interview ] [ Closer look at Kate Dickie ]

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