Red (Fantasia Fest 2008)

For years, Brian Cox has been performing exceptionally well as a supporting actor, putting in strong appearances in films such as Zodiak, Troy, Rushmore, and Kiss the Girls. In Red, directed by Trygve Allister Diesen and Lucky McKee, Cox is given the chance to see whether or not he has leading person potential, as he takes on the role of down-on-his-luck widower Avery Ludlow. Red follows the tradition of many other films who provide actors who are generally typecast with the chance to play someone different, films such as Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love (Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, and Luis Guzmán), Paul Haggis's Crash (Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Tony Danza), Larry Charles's Masked and Anonymous (Fred Ward, Chris Penn, Christian Slater, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Dern), and, of course, multiple Robert Altman films, notably Short Cuts and the 'anti-Altman' Altman film, Secret Honor (Phillip Baker Hall). Red provides Tom Sizemore (Michael McCormack), Amanda Plummer (Mrs. Doust), and Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund (Willie Doust) with somewhat different roles, and it's nice to see their familiar faces with either a more prominent responsibility (Sizemore playing the secondary villain), or a different assignment (Englund and Plummer playing an impoverished alcoholic couple). I'm still not sure if Red was made for television, since its production values and opening credits appropriately embody such an aesthetic (appropriate since the film, while definitely situating itself within the revenge genre, is full of down-home bucolic charm). And if it was, Cox is bound to win an Emmy for his powerful portrayal of a strong poor man fighting back against oligarchic hypocrisy, seeking just retribution for reprehensible crimes.

What happens is this: Ludlow goes fishing, three teenaged hunters run into him and he provides one of them (Danny McCormack played by Noel Fisher) with avuncular advice regarding his technique. Danny takes none to kindly to this and shoots his dog, Red, killing him. Ludlow, whose family was torn apart by his reckless irresponsible son, luckily discovers the youth's identity, and proceeds to ask his father (Tom Sizemore) to reprimand him. When Danny denies the accusation, his father defends him, forcing Ludlow to seek legal and televisual assistance. When none of these outlets bear retributive fruit, he tricks volatile Danny into assaulting him in front of several witnesses, after which his store is burned to the ground, after which, things become rather ugly.

Ludlow is a modest, hard-working war veteran whose only remaining joy is his dog. When this is taken away from him, and no punishment is administered to the culprit, he takes matters into his own hands. The ending is a little far-fetched, and the situation is somewhat larger than life (sort of like a Van Damme film starring a talented actor, written and produced by the Murder She Wrote team), but Red provides a powerful character study of an honest poor man doing what it takes to outwit his nefarious adversaries, thereby symbolically functioning as a representation of democracy.

Additional Note: directors Trygve Allister Diesen and Lucky McKee pay tribute to Robert Shaw's famous soliloquy within Jaws, giving Cox an extended speech wherein he pours his heart out to genial reporter Molly Flick (Lauren Birkell). And Cox hammers it home, displaying the wide variety of emotion he is rarely given the chance to unleash, pulling us into his character, making us see the world through his battered eyes.