Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Red Road
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Andrea Arnold
Anders Thomas Jensen and Lone Scherfig (characters devised by)
Directed by: Andrea Arnold
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 13, 2007
DVD: August 28, 2007
Running Time: 113 minutes, Color
Origin: UK / Denmark
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, Nathalie Press, Andrew Armour, and Paul Higgins
Jackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice, she is compelled to confront him. (Tartan Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Arnold reminds us that the best thrillers don't settle for taking the audience away from their everyday experience; rather, they burrow inward and, by sheer power of cinematic observation, make it hard for us to look away lest we miss something--on a screen or off.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's a wonderful debut, despite all the pain you may feel watching it.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Academy Award-winning live-action-short director Andrea Arnold makes a startlingly assured debut with this low-key psychological chiller.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It's still dynamite, the kind of sexy, paranoid, creepily atmospheric picture that invades all your senses at once.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
No one does poetic British with more remorseless hyper-realism than the Scots, and Arnold, who amassed a raft of reputable awards for her 2003 short film "Wasp," directs with a precociously sure touch and a raw taste for graphic sexuality rare in a woman helmer. It shocks, yet feels organic to the paranoid, loveless milieu portrayed in Red Road.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
A spellbinding, intelligent thriller that takes its time to get where it's going but is well worth the trip.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
The movie's intense focus skillfully exposes the raw pain just under the skin of a seemingly ordinary citizen.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
It's a taut, unexpected study that asks many questions about retribution and redemption.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
Though not flawless, this is a compelling study, in Dogme style, of a wounded young woman who spends her working life spying on others.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Dickie is intense in her screen debut, which requires her to be in nearly every scene. The supporting cast is strong, and Robbie Ryan's handheld camera provides gritty ambiance for this taut thriller.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Its story -- and eerie allure -- comes from our evolving perception of Jackie (Kate Dickie), a surveillance operator in Glasgow, Scotland, who spends long days and nights monitoring the screens.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Despite the thick Scottish accents, filmmaker Andrea Arnold kept me intrigued, but beyond a certain point the movie's ambiguity fades into indifference.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
In the arresting Red Road, the dire Orwellian warning that Big Brother is watching has evolved from a grim fantasy of totalitarianism into a banal fact of life.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
You might call the film "Rear Window Times 100."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
As long as Arnold can avoid giving any reason for Dickie's strange behavior, Red Road remains creepy and hypnotic, but as soon as Arnold explains what's going on, the movie's structure collapses into the rubble of cliché.
Read Full Review >Variety Leslie Felperin
Sensual, dark in every sense, but a touch derivative, Red Road reps an impressive feature debut for Brit writer-helmer Andrea Arnold, an Oscar-winner for her knockout short "Wasp."
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
The movie trades the paranoia of modern omni-cam culture for a tighter, more personal drama, and while it sticks with you, you feel the missed opportunity like a phantom leg.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jacqueline H. gave it a9:
Deep, disturbing and I spent half of my time asking "What are you doing Jackie?". Very intense and the shots of Jackie watching the CCTV screens and using them to assist her in her revenge worked brilliantly. The ultimate twist leading to the answers she needed which result in her learning to let go were well thought out and still left the viewer guessing to the end at what would happen. The potential for a grim and uncomfortable end with no resolution lasts to the final confrontation and Dickie is wonderful at passing from confused retaliation to grudging forgiveness without hitting the schmultz button. Wonderful directing with enough power in the script and strong acting to take things slowly.
Paul K. gave it a9:
It starts off slow, building bits and pieces, keeping the central plot a mystery, and despite a forced/clunky scene that spells out a little too much, this film stays on track and true to it's charm. Gritty, raw, lots of hand held camera work, amazing acting and the guts of this thing should make you feel some emotion and/or at least think about the morality or what's right and what's wrong. Is big brother watching in Glascow or what?! This was great. I loved it. If you get a chance, see it in the theater.
Andrew K. gave it a7:
This isn't the most amazing film around, but it's still one of my favorites this year because it does something which very few films do anymore: it doesn't beat you over the head with what it's trying to say. In fact, it doesn't make it at all apparent what it's trying to say. I guess you could take from it that revenge is not the way to find peace. But there are many things to be learned from this film. It is very sad at times and always very real. I like quiet films like this. I would not say that there is "not really much going on." Just because people aren't talking or you're not getting specific plot information shoved in your face every two seconds does not mean that there is nothing going on. The film is like observing real life, much the way the protagonist does when watching her security cameras. I have to say, though I know it's naive, I didn't realize that such a thing existed in the world. That neighborhoods are under watch by security cameras. Is that real? Or just a construct of the film? Creepy. I would also like to point out that the sex scene is extremely hot. So close to being porn I couldn't believe it. But not inappropriate for the film. And what the main character does after that, I never saw coming. This film was made by a director that respects her audience's intelligence by not spelling out anything. And for that, I respect her.
Ken G. gave it a9:
For a film where there is not really much going on, this riveting movie was masterfully done, and very well acted.
Rit B. gave it an8:
This film is being billed as a 'gripping thriller' but I would call it an intriguing mystery that unfolds slowly for the first hour but in such a way that it will hold your interest. The ending has surprises that will usurp your assumptions about the characters. I would give this movie a 10 rating if the director had ditched the hand-held camera. Note to Directors and Film Makers: There's a reason why the Steadicam and tripod were invented. If I wanted to experience motion sickness I'll go to an amusement park and jump on the rollercoaster. Also, stop with the extreme close-ups that go in and out of focus. I don't want to be a microbiologist and I don't want to count the pores on Kate Dickie's face. While I find it interesting that she has a hole for a nose stud, that doesn't add to my movie going experience. Last but not least, be aware that there is a sex scene that might make the real life spouses or partners of Tony Curran and Kate Dickie -- pretty angry.
