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<TITLE>Review for Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)</TITLE>
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<H1 ALIGN="CENTER" CLASS="title"><A HREF="/Title?0111495">Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)</A></H1><H3 ALIGN=CENTER>reviewed by<BR><A HREF="/ReviewsBy?Steve+Kong">Steve Kong</A></H3><HR WIDTH="40%" SIZE="4">
<PRE>RED (1994)</PRE>
<PRE>A film review by Steve Kong
Edited by Cher Johnson
Copyright 1998 Steve Kong</PRE>
<P>Why can't more movies be as perfect as Red?</P>
<P>It's hard to find a movie as intriguing, fun, and engrossing as Red.  Red
is the third and final installment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors
Trilogy.  The first two in the trilogy were Blue and White.  Red can be
seen as complete without any knowledge of the previous two movies.</P>
<P>The movie follows the life of a Swiss model, Valentine (Irene Jacob), who's
living in Geneva.  She is trying to keep a long distance relationship with
her boyfriend in England.  One night while driving home, Valentine hit a
dog.  She tried to return the dog to its owner, a reclusive retired judge
(Jean-Louis Trintignant), known only as The Judge, who spies on his
neighbours' cordless telephone calls.  We are then introduced to another
minor story that follows Auguste (a newly graduated law student) and his
love, Karin.  But, is this really a minor part of the story?</P>
<P>What drives Red is not the zigzagging plot or the well developed
characters, rather the mysteries and questions that arise during the film.
Who is the man who refers to himself as The Judge?  Who is Auguste and why
is he so important to what's happening?  What does Valentine see in The
Judge?  Will Valentine ever meet Auguste?  These questions drew me into the
film.  I wanted to know more; my curiosity was piqued. The beauty of Red is
that it is able to hold our attentions without guns, car chases, or
explosions.  Red is a well-written novel, whereas a typical American movie
with heroes, guns, car chases, and explosions looks like a comic book.</P>
<P>Red is a film about coincidence and fate.  Red is a film about how these
two things -- coincidence and fate -- mold our lives and how we don't even
realize it.  Watch for different things that Kieslowski uses to show this.
My favourite is the intersection where after Valentine makes a turn in her
car to go home, in front of a massive billboard where her gum advertisement
will be hanging right before Auguste crosses the street.  Later in the
film, we see Auguste stop at the same light in front of the gum
advertisement and pause a second to smile at the ad.  Instantly questions
arise.  These two have never met, but will they?  Will fate bring them
together?  Or will fate make them diverge?  There is the coincidence in
which Valentine runs over -- but doesn't kill -- The Judge's dog.  This
event brings Valentine to The Judge's house and this brings up even more
questions about their platonic relationship.</P>
<P>I got Red on laserdisc for two reasons: A friend of mine recommended it to
me a long time ago (thanks, Carlos!)  In addition, I was curious to see
other works of Irene Jacob, who I just saw in U.S. Marshals.  I want first
to apologize to Carlos for waiting so long to see this wonderful film.
Second, I want to let off some steam about how wasted Irene Jacob's talents
were in U.S. Marshals.  Jacob is a brilliant actress -- as she demonstrates
in Red-- and her talents are completely wasted on playing such a throwaway
part in U.S. Marshals.  I hope Irene Jacob gets some better roles in the
future; she deserves them.</P>
<P>Along with the brilliant performance by Irene Jacob comes the equally great
performance by Jean-Louis Trintignant as The Judge.  He plays his role
perfectly.  Watch for the scene in which he offers tea to Valentine.</P>
<P>Worth mentioning is Piotr Sobocinski's beautiful cinematography and Claude
Lenoir's production design.  Both stress the color red in a way that is
non-intrusive and not distracting.</P>
<P>I wish more American filmmakers would take risks and put out movies like
Red where the audience is drawn into the film not by the action or special
effects but by the well-written, thought-provoking story and well-rounded
dimensional characters. You can find Red on video; the dialogue is all
French with English subtitles.   If you're looking for a testosterone-laden
movie with guns, babes, fast cars, explosions and a mindless plot, look
elsewhere.  If you're looking for a thoughtful well-written film, Don't
Miss Red.</P>
<PRE>---
 steve kong                                    <A HREF="mailto:reviews@boiled.sbay.org">reviews@boiled.sbay.org</A>
         reviews from a guy who loves the cinema
         <A HREF="http://boiled.sbay.org/boiled/">http://boiled.sbay.org/boiled/</A></PRE>
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