Red Road

CinemaSerf

7/10

9/1/2024

"Jackie" (Kate Dickie) has a job supervising an array of CCTV cameras monitoring the city overnight. It's pretty dull work watching the drunks go home, or keeping an eye out for the opportunistic criminals who share Glasgow's streets during the wee small hours with the foxes that scavenge the waste ground. One morning, she espies a couple in flagrante delicto up against the wall of the Jet garage and she thinks she recognises the man. A bit more investigation and she discovers that this is, indeed, "Clyde" (Tony Curran). She becomes more and more obsessed with this man, and swiftly we appreciate that she has some unfinished business with him. She develops quite a cunning plan and sets about implementing a sting operation with quite a devious twist - one that she hopes will offer her some closure and a degree of retribution for his actions past. Gradually we become aware of just what did happen, but the presentation avoids making it a simple good v. evil style story, but actually one as much about redemption and maybe even forgiveness. Dickie holds it together well enough but maybe she's left to do a bit too much of the heavy lifting as neither Curran nor Martin Compston's "Stevie" do very much to add any depth to a screenplay or characterisation that does take it's time to get going. True, that might illustrate a little of the mundanity of her job, but that's no reason to impose that on an audience keen to establish just who's who to whom. There is some fairly graphic sex, but it's not prurient - it's all part of the natural evolution of her plan within a bigger plan - and that works effectively. It also makes you realise that it's not that hard to concoct a story plausible to many that's a complete work of well orchestrated fiction too. Shave twenty minutes from it and focus more on the two principals - and their backstory - and it'd be better, as it is, though, it's still a dark and watchable look at boundaries, lies and revenge.