All of us, at sometime or another, have had to cope with grief. Most people do not 'get over' the death of a loved one, they learn to accommodate it, while knowing that on the inside they are changed forever.

Some of us, unfortunately, also have to cope with causing hurt and destruction in the lives of others as a result of our own self-inflicted substance abuse. The subsequent guilt and self-loathing is never punishment enough.

What Red Road asks of the audience, is to believe that two people whose lives become intertwined as a result of such actions would resolve their relationship in the fashion this story relates.

Red Road is well-directed in terms of framing and drip-feeding the backstory to the audience, superbly acted, has admirable cinematography and creditable art direction. However, I did not believe this story. The script just did not have the power to achieve such towering heights of catharsis. Witness Clyde's final attempt at explanation for his horrible act: "This kind of thing happens every day. Sh#t happens." This is a line that conjures up no emotion at all, a cliché, from a character who did not deserve clichéd treatment. There are more glaring gaps in credibility - would the police not recognise the past connection between these two characters when she makes the rape charge? How can the CCTV footage of her escaping Red Road still be in the cupboard when it is evidence in an ongoing rape investigation? Can you really drop rape charges with just one phone call? And in a tale so grounded in realism, isn't it a heck of a coincidence that Clyde's daughter shows up when she does?

This is a promising but not wholly convincing debut from Arnold. I would not call her a wise filmmaker, but she is certainly brave. Arnold is not Scottish, but by setting a film like this in Glasgow she invites comparisons with Lynne Ramsay - not because they are two of that rarest of creatures, the female director, but because stylistically and thematically they are so close. Let Ramsay do her thing (which she does very well),and hope that Arnold finds her own voice and style. I will certainly look out for her next film.

When I turned on "Red Road", I had pretty much no idea what the plot was, but I was rather impressed. Watching the woman spend her days keeping an eye on everyone through the secret cameras, it's no surprise that she would want to find something new in life...though the new something turns out to be not all that pleasant.

Now, this is not a masterpiece by any stretch, but easily better than the average Hollywood flick; for starters, it features a much more realistic sex scene than I'm used to. Half the time, I couldn't totally understand the characters' heavy Scottish accents (but don't get me wrong: I like hearing people's accents). Probably the main thing that I derived from this film is that while Scotland is probably a great place, it does look like a less pleasant place that I usually assumed. Or maybe it's just because this movie shows the seedy areas in Glasgow.

Overall, I'm glad that I saw this movie.

A film that takes one down a couple of unexpected paths, "Red Road" (2006) stars Kate Dickie as Jackie, a very thin, tired-looking and sad woman who works for the police as a CCTV operator in Glasgow. She watches footage from the various security cameras around her section and reports suspicious behavior, crimes in progress, etc. throughout a particularly gritty area of the city. When Jackie receives an invitation for her sister-in-law's wedding, she attends. It's evident her father-in-law is upset with her; we get the idea that Jackie's husband is dead and that in some way, she has kept the family from getting closure.

One day while on the job, to her surprise, Jackie sees a familiar face. She finds out that the man she saw had an early prison release. She begins to stalk him. He doesn't seem to know her, but when she shows up at a party in his apartment, she looks familiar to him. Eventually they have sex - one of the most graphic sex scenes I've ever seen -- and gradually the real story unfolds.

You won't know what this film is about for a long time, but you'll keep busy guessing. In that way, the pace is slow-moving but keeps your attention.

The acting is not only excellent but very natural from Kate Dickie, who has a real workhorse role, and Tim Curran as Clyde, the recently released prisoner.

The idea that we are watched all the time without knowing it is unnerving, and it's fascinating to see how Jackie uses her job and the surveillance to get some closure in her own life. Very satisfying if raw film.