Red White & Blue (2010)

This highly thought provoking feature displays characters who could have been any of us at any point of our lives depending on our upbringing. It's not only our parents and what we're exposed to at a young age that shapes our perception of the world. It's also their parents and so forth. It also shows that the best of us can be capable of horrific actions. Life can be so complex that there is no bad or good guys and revenge isn't black and white.

A gritty, modern tragedy, artistically shot and structured, it's a slow burn piece that builds to a formidably gut-wrenching climax. The plot follows three characters whose stories collide, competently portrayed by three capable actors, each who get an act revolved around them. The score is for the most part non-existent, but comes into play with appropriately jarring effect during the harrowing final act. As drama/thriller/horrors go I'd call this of the same ilk as Deliverance, for it's not necessarily an easy watch, but it sure is a memorable one. Red, White & Blue is a hidden gem I highly recommend to any open-minded enthusiasts of extreme cinema.

I'n a longtime horror fan. I like my horror movies intense, bloody & down-to-earth. If they're too slick, if everything from the story & pace & acting, to the editing & sound production, slots together too perfectly, I will admire the film, but not be moved by it. I started watching "Red, White & Blue" thinking it was a "psychological suspense thriller," because that's what Netflix told me it was. Much to my delight, it's a flat-out (non-supernatural) horror movie that satisfies my taste. It's also a multifaceted revenge tragedy—a study of how one initial act of violence (the rape of 4-yr-old girl) spins out a world of suffering, which leads to many unfocused acts of revenge, one of which eventually triggers a much more pointed episode of revenge, which in turn triggers a veritable *rampage* of revenge—so well-acted & so engaging, it practically bores a hole in your brain. One brilliant thing about this flick is that all of this takes place in a central Texas setting which is as real as the sun is hot. I'm a Texan, so I should know. Don't you hate movies that start out telling you they're located in a specific geographic locale, then some aspects of the setting—the character's accents, for example, or the license plates on cars, or a city skyline—are broadcasted so loud & clear you get sick of 'em, but many other, more telling, aspects—like the architecture of the houses or the sounds of the birds or the kinds of trees, even—are all wrong? It distracts you from your immersion in the story! This movie is just the opposite: we see a hint here, a hint there, of where the events are unfolding, but unless you recognize specific streets & buildings of one lowdown area of Austin—I didn't, because I don't know Austin that well—the fact that you're in Texas seeps rather gradually into your awareness. Even the fact that one character has an obvious tattoo of the state's outline only means that *he's* a Texan. But by the end, when a big Texas flag flapping gently in the wind in someone's front yard prompts you into a reverie about what the title of the movie signifies, you are so grounded in place, it deeply underscores the gritty, down-to-earth flavor of the whole flick. That also contributes to how the story's tragedy, while ramifying out to include dozens, even hundreds, of people, feels as tightly concentrated as a watch spring. I must warn you that the real story you're watching—as opposed to the mere events—will also take a while to seep into your awareness. And that this can be kind of annoying. At first I thought that the film was lagging because our initial point-of-view character wasn't being very well acted. But once you understand why the character is like that, you'll appreciate the subtlety that Amanda Fuller brings to the role. Same goes for Eric Senter's character, who comes across as such an irritating dweeb he's hard to look at—and then you get *his* story. Noah Taylor's character, on the other hand, is so fascinating from the get-go, you won't be able to take your eyes off him. He just about pops off the screen, that's how intensely he burns.After all was said and done, I appreciated, in retrospect, the way the way the movie starts out so slow as to be almost meandering, then starts to pick up speed, accelerates some more, and then quite suddenly slams into the rampage I referred to earlier. But still, for all of the violence in Act 3, the story is never hyper: it steadily remains in the real world, where there are always occasional downshifts in a sequence of events.The only thing I didn't like about the flick was the fingernails-on-blackboard piano music that's supposed to heighten the splatter at the end: they should've stuck with the rock-n-roll used earlier."Red, White & Blue" even has a denouement. How often does *that* happen? The kind of denouement that lets the flames of intense emotion die down, even lets the embers cool, before the screen goes black and the credits roll. Simon Rumley is definitely no amateur. I'm going to be watching his next flick, that's for sure. I hope it's horror!

Independent U.S. thriller Red White and Blue is a fascinating specimen indeed. As delicate in its portrayal of love as it is explicit in its portrayal of violence, the film begins as a strangely voyeuristic exploitation film, playing like a series of vignettes and ends as an intensely non-judgmental exploration of moral boundaries. Unique and certain to plague your thoughts for a long time after it ends, this is a thoroughly original, though not entirely successful piece of work from director Simon Rumley.Erica is a dark, damaged young woman who enjoys picking up men in seedy bars, but never sleeps with the same one twice. She keeps to herself, doesn't "do friendship" and is generally a closed book. Nate is an army vet, with links to the CIA who has a history of animal torture and lives in Erica's building. He is as damaged as Erica but with a slightly more vulnerable air. Erica is interested in this mysterious stranger but doesn't want to sleep with him. It must be love. Meanwhile Franki, a rock musician who indulged in an orgy with his bandmates and Erica has received some shocking news that sets up the final, gruesome act.It's unfair to categorise this as a horror film as there is nothing here designed to scare the audience. It is not a film that keeps you in suspense either. Red White and Blue is very much a human drama, despite it's showy display of violence towards the end. The central couple, Erica and Nate, are two tragic characters and their slow bonding and eventual coming together is the stuff of indie drama, not horror, but there is a looming sense of tragedy as we see flashes of a seriously dark side to Nate, an otherwise extremely likable character. In fact, he is so likable that this makes the final half hour even more difficult to watch since you can't help but feel his pain and you may enter some very murky moral ground.The film is structured in such a way that the focus shifts between characters. We start off with Erica who is played by a perfectly cast Amanda Fuller. Her performance is brave, subtle and so interesting that she goes from unlikeable to desperately sad and vulnerable as the film goes on. The second character we explore is Franki and a huge problem for me watching the film is that I couldn't bring myself to like this character no matter how hard I tried. As with the other characters, he has his dark side and his light side but I just couldn't stand him. Maybe it's my dislike for soul-searching hipster types but not being able to sympathise with him really dampened my enjoyment of the film, particularly as events begin to unfold. If this character had worked better I think the plot as a whole would have felt more effective. By far the best thing about the film is the great Noah Taylor, digging right down into the pits of darkness for this role and giving us a side of him we haven't seen before. A genuinely scary, monstrous romantic lead. The blend of innocence, sweetness and pure psychotic rage ensures that the audiences head is spinning by the end of the film. The final shot of the film is somewhat heartbreaking and in a nice little play on time perception, we get a rather poignant little twist in the tale that reminds us exactly what the film is really about. Two damaged people who, for a fleeting second, found love.With nothing to go on but the fact that Noah Taylor was in it (pretty safe bet) and a pretty frightening trailer I gave this film a chance and I'm glad I did. While the film definitely has its problems, I was pleasantly surprised to find that beneath its gruesome surface it is a film with a big heart and, in an unconventional way, wears it on its sleeve. The film will not be to everyone's taste but it has a certain resonance that is all too rare in genre films.