Red Dirt
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Movie Reviews of Red Dirt
Movie Review: A very good film
Summary: 4 Stars
There are enough reviews here that give plot details, so I won't repeat them. Opinions seem to fall into two categories: people either really liked it, or really disliked it. For starters, let's clear up any confusion over what the film is, and what it's trying to be. It is not a film about coming out. It is not a film that contains scenes with overt male sexual contact (though there is overt heterosexual contact). There is a powerful love interest between the two male leads, but the film doesn't hit the viewer over the head with it. For some viewers, that will make the film too slow and too boring. I think that they're missing the point.The story starts slowly, and the dialog at the very beginning sounded stilted and stereotypically Southern gothic. However, that problem disappeared within a few minutes, and overall, I found the screenplay to be believable and well written. I agree with the reviewers who praised Karen Black's performance. In fact, the entire cast was quite good. In spite of their various flaws, each of them had some trait or characteristic that allowed the viewer to identify with them.
My main objection was the quality of the DVD transfer, which others have praised. I didn't like the washed-out picture quality that seemed to afflict almost every daylight scene. The actual cinematography was excellent, with beautifully composed scenes, but too many seemed to be over-exposed. This may have been a conscious decision on the part of the director to make some sort of artistic statement, but if so, it escaped me. The interior and night-time scenes were more balanced.
My other complaint had to do with the soundtrack. The DVD offers two options, a 5.1 surround, and a 2-channel surround. The 5.1 soundtrack was inferior to the 2-channel track. As an example, the ambient noise of crickets at night was quite audible on the 2-channel track, but dropped out entirely with the 5.1 track. Dialogue was also more muffled with the 5.1 track. This is of course the exact opposite of what one would expect.
Aside from these technical problems, the film itself is very good.
Movie Review: Engaging in all the righ places
Summary: 4 Stars
Red Dirt is an engaging movie of substance, and it encapsulates the senses close to the heart. There are two things that this movie has going for it : Engaging dialogue and the absolute notion that the two leads could be heading nowhere or somewhere, fast.
A youngster dying to leave a place with distorted realities(the place makes you crazy just by being there) encounters a drifter with dispositions as enamouring as his invites promising.
Red Dirt presents that intriguing place where we are defined by where we are, too, at times. Duties, family and roots, these are entrapments to our lead character but does he have it in him to leave? This enrapturing stranger, that stirs all kinds of masculine connection (is he a fulcrum of destruction, or a platform out). The possibility of loving a fellow man in every sense of the word is explored, but inadequately. But that is the charm of Red Dirt, though. You get to deduce what they imply. Even when they overtly kiss, the words are not completely committing. I love that about Red Dirt. Frustrating, yet rapturous!
Red Dirt puts the protagonists in very precarious cross roads, but unfortunately, their destinations aren't particularly interesting. The crazyness of the binding family became a distraction instead of character development. Good acting(Karen Black, G., and Dan Montgomery) couldn't help.
In the end, Red Dirt fails because it didn't launch the characters. It sets a good premise, but it traps itself into either a predictable ending, or a can-you-believe-it one. Won't spoil your viewing pleaure.
In any case, Montgomery alone could justify viewing this movie. Arresting and abundantly broody. Montgomery is as gorgeous as the cinematography is unbelievaby alluring.
Buy this, because everytime you see it, the dialogue transforms to different possible interpretations. it is this luminous achievement that made me give it that extra star.
Just to convince you: Add rain to a gay kiss, river to playful suggestive men on tree trunks. C'mon, that's gotta work, right?
Movie Review: I love this movie. I hate this movie.
Summary: 4 Stars
There are plenty of things in this film to love, and plenty to hate, but I loved it even more the second time through. What I HATE is the very loud musical score which overshadows the movie making it very difficult in places to hear the actors reciting their lines. I also hated the first 15 minutes or so that gave me the impression this film was going to be a major dud. On the contrary......... after it sets the plot in motion, it takes off and becomes a very good film. The story is about a young man in his early twenties who has never been in love. He has however been having a sexual affair with his female cousin (Aleksa Palladino) since childhood. She is madly in love with him and wants the two to settle down together and share their lives with one another. Griffith (the very handsome Dan Montgomery) on the other hands vows that he is going to leave Mississippi forever and never come back. Griffs whole life is centered around the plantation he was raised on. His parents killed when he was a baby, he was raised by his eccentric aunt (Karen Black), whom he later comes to know much more about. Black gives a wonderful performance as the crazy lady. Along comes Lee (Walter Goggins), a drifter passing through, who rents a house from Griff and the two form a very close friendship, and make plans to ride off into the sunset together. Everyone figures out the two are in love except for Griffith, who is totally blind to his own feelings and those of his new friend. A late coming of age film which deals with eccentricity, incest, gay romance, and many points of young love. Outside of the smothering soundtrack, the quality is top notch all around. Acting is superb. Montgomery and Palladino shine in their performance. Enough said. I recommend this film whole heartedly.Movie Review: Subtle, slow, and tragically sweet
Summary: 4 Stars
This story is about friendship between two young men that evolves into love without any pushing or prodding. It occurs so naturally that, for a while, one of the guys is able to deny that it has happened at all. But it has.At the start of this movie, you wonder where it is going. But the wait is worth the time and effort because the characters are beautifully developed. Karen Black is amazing. She alone is worth seeing this movie. The character of Emily also emerges nicely throughout the film.
But it is the friendship between Griffith and Lee that is the focus of this film. As many others have said, this is not a `gay' film. The friendship emerges naturally and, toward the end of the film, both men realize that is has progressed beyond a friendship (although Lee knows it first).
The setting is a tiny, confined southern town where the characters are further confined by the demands of their own lives. Emily and Griffith use each other as a reason to stay until the reason no longer exists. Griffith plans to leave with Lee but the realization that their friendship has progressed beyond friendship sends him into a crisis of sexual identity and he drives Lee away. In the end, Emily leaves, Lee returns and the story winds down to a difficult but necessary conclusion.
The only real complaint I have about this movie that sometimes the volume of the score drowns out the dialog. It is sometimes difficult to hear what the characters are saying. One such instance is a rather sweet scene between Lee and Griffith where you miss what Lee is saying just before he leaves. Too bad to have missed that.
I highly recommend this film but give it time. It grows on you as it goes.
Movie Review: The dirt on Red Dirt
Summary: 4 Stars
The Red Dirt of the south (which is actually clay) produces some of the breathtaking scenery in this film. The green lush grasses and trees, fields of flowers, and tree shaded creeks and streams is the setting for a indie flick that is just as rich.
Taq Purvis directs this film of a man Griffith (Dan Montgomery) who is taking care of his aunt Summer (Karen Black) at her family farm. Grffith's cousin Emily (Aleksa Pallodino) is a sexually active young woman who is in love with Griffith perhaps because their really is no other people there, close to their age. While Griffith, Summer and Emily run the rutt that their lives have taken , a stranger named Lee (Walton Goggins) blows into town and stirs up these simple plain interactions.
Red Dirt comes across at first as a little confusing to understand but soon the secrets that plauge Summer begin to surface and Griffith starts to develop feelings for Lee that he is unsure how to handle. Karen Black does an excellent job of playing the unhinged aunt and Goggins, Pallodino and Montgomery play well against each other and real chemistry develops. Dan Montogomery does steal this movie with an intense performance of a young man trying to sort out his feelings, come to terms with his aunts secrets, and make peace with whom he is and what lies in the future away from the families farm. An excellent movie that shows growth and depth of each character and reveals the slow, difficult life of one individual coming to terms with adulthood and the world outside ones sphere.