Red White & Blue

This film reminded me mostly of Audition and how the mood changes from drama to sinister to disturbing.

The film follows the sexual goings-on of a young girl named Erica, who we believe to be troubled in some way or another. She has a friend, Nate, in whom she can confide and who appears to be genuinely concerned for her. A side-plot, about a semi-successful garage-band, runs in parallel from the point they all get in the sack with Erica, on a drunken band team-building exercise. These two plot lines come slamming back together in a big way, just after the middle of the movie.

Once this film gets going, it really grabs hold of you and doesn't let go, until after the gut-wrenching climax. The build-up is slow paced but justifiably so, as it needs to bring true depth to the characters, otherwise the latter half of the story wouldn't work.

Unlike movies where the good and bad guys are clear cut, this one really blurs the edges, so that we're never quite sure who's in the right and who's not. I'm saying this is a good thing for this movie, because it really makes the viewer question the morality in each scene and find it harder to predict where the movie us is ultimately heading.

There's little I would criticise. What it does, it does very well - all credit to the director and cast.

I wouldn't categorise this as a horror (unless we count Franki's earrings), it's more of an intense drama/thriller but Red White and Blue is one of the best films I have seen this year and would recommend it to anyone who has the stomach for this sort of thing.

Noah Taylor really shines in this movie. He was perfect for the role. There are no good guys here just bad people and worse people. Don't watch this movie unless you want to be brought down a few emotional steps.

"Red White & Blue" is an example of independent cinema that uses a grand plot and makes everything work with subtlety, very strong performances and a rarely seen type of narrative that adds to the effectiveness of this horror/suspense drama.

The intro shows us a trailer trash brunette named Erica who sleeps with different men every night in a small Texas town. In the apartment compound where she lives, there's Noah who is a well-meaning bearded dude who will help her when she gets fired from her job as house cleaner. Erica rejects his acts of kindness at first but will later give in because he really is a stand-up guy (aw shucks). Conflict arises when one of the men who Erica had a one-night stand with discovers she left something behind that has potential to ruin his entire life. That sounds vague, but I'm afraid that is as far as I can go because more details mean less thrill punches. Trust me though when I say it has a really good story intelligently wrapped around the tropes of horror/suspense movie conventions.

The cinematography projects a dark and warm atmosphere that would probably taste like honey but would feel like it has an aftertaste of poison. Huge credit should be given to the Texas setting which is pretty idyllic. I didn't think for a second that Leatherface resided in the area. The BGM that is mostly comprised of piano arrangements works effectively as it has resemblance to what was successfully used in Takashi Shimizu's "The Grudge" and "Marebito." It sounds pretty but you also feel the sense of dread f***ing up your psyche.

Simon Rumley carefully peels out the layers of his characters by providing concise moments of well-written dialogue exchange and encapsulating the poignancy in the two leads' portrayal. It rings true in the dramatic scenes of Amanda Fuller (Erica) and Noah Taylor (Nate) together where they blew the roof off. I mean, the acting displayed here alone deserves a loud praise.

This is one of the more mature horror movies I have ever encountered, and it definitely is one that I could say one of the best from the genre that I have seen in the last five years. What a f***ing gem.

Emily (Amanda Fuller) is a drifting through life soul, who fills in the void of her existence by having sex with pretty much any guy she meets. She strikes up a hesitant platonic friendship with Nate (Noah Taylor), a psychopathic Iraq war veteran. Nate doesn't seem too pushed on laying her, and seems to prefer to regale her with left field tales of him torturing animals as a psychopathic kid.

Franki (The Lost's Marc Senter) is a rather immature musician, with dreams of making it big, all the while caring for his cancer stricken mother. A drunken encounter with Emily will set off an event which will have horrific consequences for them both. This in turn will trigger off a horrible, brutal and uncompromising revenge...

Unfortunately, I can't reveal anything else about this film without spoiling things, as it takes time to get to its revelation. Red White And Blue is a very slow burning character study piece, which makes its third act all the more shocking. This is NOT an exploitation flick, and any fans of exploitation revenge films should very much bear this in mind, as the film takes over an hour to setup the circumstances for its revenge payoff. However, it's a damn good film in its own right, with excellent performances all around, and an unusual outlook on its characters.

Emily for example is at least partly at fault for the consequences which effect her, and Franki is no typical screen villain here, but is rather a likable everyman. Nate, while clearly a psychopath is however in no way proactively aggressive, and basically nobody concerned fills in the required role one would expect for revenge films. Basically, it's an art-house film as far as I'm concerned, but it works.

The film itself looks great, with the first slow burning half consisting of bus stops, blue collar lunch areas and seedy looking dodgy bars, and it has a nicely gritty warts n all white trash vibe to it.

Again, fans of exploitation or shallow revenge films, take note, as this will not be what you're expecting, particularly from its misleading youtube trailer, but my advice is to stick it through, as it's a great revenge film, and a great film in its own right, that manages to shock in its third act via its sheer uncompromising nature

7/10. Won't be to everyone's tastes but I personally quite liked it, and anyone who liked Shane Meadows Dead Man's Shoes should find much to like here.

This movie really affected me right from the beginning. I felt drawn in hanging onto every word and movement of Emily (The main female character) and Nate (The post traumatic Iraq war Veteran).

Unfortunately I can't really go into too much detail on the plot creating a rather boring review but I really wanted to let people know just how enticing and well made this movie was. This was one of the best Drama revenge movies I have ever seen. It was so realistic to me it was like watching something real. The emotions I felt towards the characters is not something I normally experience in watching a movie but the bleakness and story lines of each character was just so real to me.

I found the relationship between Emily and Nate to be especially captivating. Two outcasts who are thoroughly screwed up very slowly make this special bond that they seemed to never have in life before. You don't really know what to make of the two with his history of torture and hers of being extremely unemotional and sexually promiscuous. You're not really sure what to make of the relationship until things unfold and you realize what's really going on.

Franki, the third main character in the movie is your typical stupid kid whose dreams are to make it big with his band. He cares for and loves his cancer stricken Mother very much. When he has an encounter with Emily it causes his whole world to spin out of control and loses his sanity.

If you miss this movie you are missing out on a good one. I went in thinking it would be a gore feast but it wasn't, it was actually very tame on the gore. Instead I went through an emotional roller-coaster that lasted from beginning to end. This movie is a must see.

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