Red White & Blue

I have to say that this movie grew on me after I watched it... mainly because I watched it with wrong expectation. In comparison to Rumleys last movie "The living and the dead" it doesn't catch you with visual and sound effects and its not revenge movie either. "Red white and blue" is a pretty bleak drama that for most of its time focuses on showing the lives of three characters. The focus is on the characters and there is not much do distract from them except for the strange time skips in editing which at first annoyed be but have a more than logical reason in the movie. Everything relies heavily on the actors and I think for an independent movie they made quite an effort here.

Rumley denies painting anyone in this movie good or bad. You have to watch an endless spiral of pain and wrongs that never seem to make a right but there is always a reason for actions that on first sight might seem illogical. The way the characters are interwoven and the similarities between them are slowly coming to light while the plot turns into a revenge movie culminating in some pretty drastic measures is brilliant. The movie is gritty and brutal in parts but I think Rumley managed to play these elements in a way that works psychologically and not visually. The way the story is told is excellent and the finale is not a lame twist that turns everything upside down but makes you realize you have been watching a revenge movie from the first frame onwards. I think Rumley put a lot of thought into this movie and it deserves that people sit down and take a little time to think about it too.

If you turn away from the movie after the very hard and maybe even too explicit (though it really isn't, but it feels like it is) beginning, you will miss out on the why. You won't be able to see where the director wanted to take this. And it would be a shame. This is as "down and dirty" as a movie can go. From cinematography, acting and story/character (development).

It might not be your cup of tea of course (nothing glossy to be found here), but if you let yourself into the story and the characters (with all their flaws, of whom they have many), then you will be rewarded with a very weird and angry story. It won't pull any punches either (whether you like that or not) and stays true to it's grittiness throughout. One of the better movies I watched in 2010 (and I watched quite a few)

That's what this movie is: torture porn. True, the first two thirds of the movie are your basic indie flick about lost, tormented souls trying to find comfort on each other, or in the most desperate acts. Nothing spectacular, nothing new, but more or less well done. And completely irrelevant. Nothing of the character's dramas is left when things start rolling.

The last half an hour is obviously what the director intended to leave in our memories. And it is pure gratuitous exploitation. The viewer is just being thrown from one torture scene to another, expecting the level of violence to keep increasing(and believe me, it does). When the last confrontation between two characters is about to begin, all the viewer can think is how graphic and sickening it is going to be: no emotional tension is expected, and none is given. The fact that the violent third act takes much less time than the drama doesn't change the fact that it is the violent stuff that Red White and Blue is about.

It is obviously not a case of a movie becoming something else in the end. What happens is precisely the opposite: the long set-up is just an excuse for sickening stuff at the end. That will give the horror fans a chance to say they enjoyed a film with character development, and that they are not just fans of the gross stuff, etc. Pure BS. This is as much an exploitation film as I Spit in Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, Last House on the Left and the like. Yes, I am degrading this movie from its artsy pretensions to the genre it really belongs. You make enjoy this if you are a horror fan, but don't fool yourself.

Little Deaths was my cup of tea. I liked it and noticed the part called Bitch directed by Simon Rumley, the director behind Red White and Blue. From shot one you know what kind of flick this turns out. An uneasy film with disturbing moments coming from all sides.

We start to know Erica, a girl who f*cks around, she just doesn't care who it is but be advised, she only do it ones , no questions, no love. And the first minutes you see Erica (Amanda Fuller) having sex all the time. Old people, 3 in one time, it just doesn't care. But she comes across an ex-Iraq veteran called Nate (Noah Taylor) who has an interest in her. But he's the only one she doesn't want to have sex with. Slowly we start to know both and some guys Erica had sex with. From there on you can't see what is coming and it moves slowly in some kind of arty way. But it is the excellent performances that kept you attracted to the screen. Just when you think were is this going things go wrong with one guy she had sex with. HIV enters in his life. Bad thing, and this flick turns into a disturbed part.

Clearly not for everybody. It do have some sickening parts. But the way it was shot and the use of piano as score gives it that arty feeling. i should classify it under a revenge flick but not with a horror overtone.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 2,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Red White and Blue is not for everyone. This movie with grab your emotions right from the beginning (good or bad) and keep building upwards.

There is no clear antagonist or protagonist; I'm sure we could label some, but it detracts from the complex interactions and subtext. This movie has layers and it will stick with you for several days. I repeat - this movie stays with you and reaches some dark places.

The acting is very good and Noah Taylor is engrossing. I can not believe this guy is not cast in more roles, seriously. Taylor gives a stellar performance of the performance you almost wished you had never seen.

I recommend highly.