Red Road

Punching well above its low-budget/indie weight, Andrea Arnold's first feature was one of the major surprises at Cannes this year, carrying off the Jury Prize and subsequently a host of BAFTA Awards. Jackie works as a CCTV monitor watching over the less desirable neighbourhoods of Glasgow in the wee hours. Nothing gets past Jackie’s cameras and she can quite confidently look you in the eye and say she’s seen it all. One night a man appears on her screen and re-opens the most painful memories of her life, ones she thought she had faced. With her motivations ingeniously concealed until the end, Jackie gives in to deep compulsions, risking her job and putting everything on the line to confront the mystery man in this darkly gripping thriller. The performances are at once searing and fragile and go beyond anything you’re likely to see from the UK this year. Intelligent, original and staring straight out of the heart of one of Europe’s most downtrodden cities, this impassioned work takes you to places you wouldn’t otherwise visit without a local. Warning: explicit sex scenes.

One of those films that demands and rewards close attention. The performances are wholly convincing and the unremittingly pessimistic view of life in Britain's neglected inner-city areas is bracingly honest...an extraordinarily mature and thoughtful film.

Philip French, The Guardian