RED ROAD — ** 1/2 — Kate Dickie, Tony Curran; with English subtitles; not rated, probable NC-17 (profanity, sex, nudity, vulgarity, violence, brief drugs).
"Red Road" attempts to go the same voyeur-as-main-character route as the recent hit "Disturbia." And like that film, this psychological thriller does have a few effective moments.
However, it goes a little further — too far, in fact. There are some sexually explicit moments in this UK import that would likely garner an NC-17 rating had it been submitted to the U.S. ratings board.
Also, the thick Scottish accents may also deter some, though the U.S. distributor (Tartan Films) has subtitled some of the more unintelligible dialogue.
Kate Dickie stars as Jackie, a surveillance officer in charge of monitoring closed-circuit television cameras. She's got no life to speak of, which may explain why she takes her job so seriously. But Jackie has been a bit distracted lately.
She's keeping a close eye on Clyde (Tony Curran), a recently paroled criminal she's spotted in the area. At first she's content to watch him from afar. But once she becomes convinced Clyde is up to no good, she begins following him around the neighborhood as he goes through his daily routine.
Screenwriter/director Andrea Arnold (the 2005 Academy Award-winning short "Wasp") subscribes to Lars von Trier's no-frills "Dogme" filmmaking ethic, though that connection shouldn't be held against her or the film. However, she deliberately keeps us in the dark about certain details — Arnold doesn't disclose the real reason why Jackie is so interested in Clyde for nearly 90 minutes.
But she does get strong performances from the two leads. Dickie is convincingly obsessive as the tormented Jackie, while Curran ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") gives Clyde some interesting shadings.
"Red Road" is not rated but would probably receive an NC-17 for strong sexual language (profanity, vulgar slang and other explicit talk), some fairly explicit sex scenes, full male and female nudity, some brief violence (including violence against women) and some brief drug references. Running time: 110 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com