Red, White & Blue (2010)

The information put out about Simon Rumley’s Red, White & Blue is hardly likely to inspire you to see the movie, we were in two minds whether or not to see the film. Luckily enough however we decided to take the plunge on the final night of the 2010 Frightfest.

Erica (Amanda Fuller) is leading a self destructive life, night after night she’ll go out cruising the seediest bars in town looking for someone who will have sex with her. It might be sex with one, or multiple men; she simply does not care. She does however beneath this exterior have a heart, something that Nate (Noah Taylor) sees from the minute he meets her. Trying to befriend her is hard, but its only a matter of time before she starts to see things from his angle, and despite his wild claims, and disturbing conversation topics the pair soon become friends. In a life already filled with pain a little more rain must fall and a very living ghost haunts Erica from a previous one-night stand, and he demands answers.

From the opening sequence scored with the loudest and most depressing piano music you’ll ever hear, you realise that despite the blandness of what is happening on screen at that point something very, very bad is about to happen. The plus point of this is that while you realise something bad and dark is going to happen, it’s difficult to fully comprehend exactly how bad things are about to get.

The build up is slow, with a very blurry vision as to who the characters are and what they are doing. Firstly you look at the life of Erica, then the life of Nate and how the two meet and get to know each other. At that point before the story proper begins, Erica and Nate are put on a back burner and seemingly forgotten as you then take a look at the life of Franki (Marc Senter), what sort of person he is and what personal battles he is facing. So essentially you have an hour plus of character development, and this might be a little difficult for some to watch, personally I rather enjoyed it, but could tell by surrounding conversations that others in the audience wanted things to happen a little sooner. The key is if not for the build up, the movies key story might not be quite so dark.

The characters are all well developed, soap opera style, so when it all starts to kick off you fully understand the who they are and can relate to them. You can also understand the moral messages from both warring factions. What I found most interesting about the movie is as it premiered similar events were being played out in a German court, with a celebrity on trial for similar crimes.

Rumley is best known for his movie The Living & The Dead, which although at the time of writing this I have not seen it, Rumley assured us that he wanted to go much darker than before, so if you have seen The Living And The Dead, and found it dark, its safe to conclude you can go darker.

All of the performers are great, particularly Amanda Fuller who you really do feel her emotional scarring, and also can see why she is able to find a string of lovers quite readily; it’s a combination of her looks, and the feel of vulnerability.  While Noah Taylor is the perfect choice for a character with a past too, but for more disturbing reasons.

If you enjoy slow burning stories that hit hard when they hit, then Red, White & Blue is a movie you’ll love. If you prefer your stories a little more erratic with impact from the start, then this is one to avoid. Personally I found this one of the best movies of the festival, and one I’ll always remember.