Fox Lorber presents

Red Dirt (2000)

"Just because this is where we're at, it doesn't mean this is where we belong."- Griffith Joseph Barnes (Dan Montgomery)

Stars: Dan Montgomery, Walton Goggins, Aleksa Palladino
Other Stars: Karen Black, Peg O'Keef
Director: Tag Purvis

Manufacturer: DVDL
MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (contains language and adult material)
Run Time: 01h:50m:07s
Release Date: 2001-10-16
Genre: drama

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B	C	C+	B-	C

 

DVD Review

Griffith Joseph Barnes (Dan Montgomery, Wasteland) possesses no current direction in his life. He spends his days butting heads with eccentric Aunt Summer (Karen Black, Family Plot) and tries to understand her near-constant despair. Emily (Aleksa Palladino) spends a good deal of time around and may even love Griffith. There is one major problem: she's his first cousin. The days in Pineapple, Mississippi drift by without much hope for rejuvenation. By pure chance, stranger Lee Todd (Walton Goggins, Switchback) arrives and becomes the friend Griffith desperately needs to assuage his troubled heart. However, their relationship may contain much more than the typical bond of male friendship.

Lee appears out of nowhere and quickly presents an alternative way of life to Griffith. Instead of spending his remaining days tending the farm and worrying about the breakdown of his aunt, he could travel the country and discover new people and places. Lee journeys from town to town without a specific plan for his destinations. A basic idea exists in his brain about his trip, but it is something fairly vague like heading west or going to Texas. This free spirit presents a contradiction to the simple, closed-up mentality that hinders Griffith's growth into adulthood. While life would not be terrible with Aunt Summer and Emily, he has discovered another possibility that could open both his mind and heart. Lee plans to move on quickly, but he stays behind and hopes to persuade Griffith to join him on the road. This decision will have permanent ramifications in the lives of both his aunt and cousin.

"What kind of a friend is Lee?" - Emily (Aleksa Palladino)

Even while lying together with Emily, it's fairly clear from his expressions that Griffith is missing something from his love life. When his relationship with Lee burgeons and leaves her in the dust, Emily wonders about a possible homosexual element to their friendship. Although the final outcome is predictable, writer/director Tag Purvis keeps us in the dark for a long time and only provides glimpses of this possibility. While it serves to add to the mystery, it also lessens the impact of their connection. Instead, the story spends too much time with Aunt Summer and her trials and pushes Griffith and Lee into the background for a while. The eventual revelation of their feelings is sweet, but it falls short because we do not understand enough concerning what generated these thoughts.

Although this story tries to present in-depth characters within a small town, the outcome is not very effective. Karen Black spends a majority of her time overacting and her role loses the emotional steam necessary to make her plight convincing. I found myself groaning whenever she became involved in long, dreary discussions with Griffith and Emily. The blame for this film's troubles should not fall squarely on Black, however. The overall plot just lacks the edge that is necessary to make these relationships compelling. Everything moves at a slow, difficult pace that renders any surprises much less effective in the end. This result is unfortunate, because it wastes an interesting performance from Palladino. Her character shines with long, flowing red hair and a stunning southern charm. However, the focus shifts more towards the other actors near the end and makes her ultimate decision less touching.

Red Dirt is the first major feature film from writer/director Tag Purvis, and this inexperience reveals itself in the script more than the camera work. His direction actually is very solid and contains several memorable scenes. The entire story contains a dark, eerie feeling that stems considerably from the dreary colors and creative filming. There's also a few moments of amazing scenic beauty that reveal Purvis' talent. While Griffith's story falls well short of engrossing cinema, it does showcase a talented filmmaker who hopefully will continue to improve his craft on numerous future productions.

Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: C

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Red Dirt features a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer that contains a large amount of grain and haziness. While I believe that some of the bleak images stem from the type of photography Purvis utilized, there still are some significant problems with this picture. A decent number of major glitches and noticeable lighting troubles definitely hinder the presentation. While there are some nice visual moments that showcase the impressive Mississippi landscape, they cannot completely make up for the noticeable defects.

Image Transfer Grade: C+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	yes
PCM	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: This disc contains both a 5.1-channel Dolby Digital transfer and a 2.0-channel stereo one. Unfortunately, neither track stands out too much from its companion and both are fairly weak. This story features several emotionally difficult moments that would have benefited from a stronger audio transfer. In one impressive scene, Aunt Summer and Emily drive in front of incredible scenery with a melodic violin score playing in the background. While the effect is decent, it would have been much better if the sound had contained more depth. While neither transfer has any glaring problems, both are mediocre and fail to add much to the story.

Audio Transfer Grade: B- 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 16 cues and remote access
Cast and Crew Filmographies
1 Original Trailer(s)
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual
Layers Switch: 01h:17m:23s

Extra Extras:

1. Peas and Corn, a short film by Tag Purvis
2. DVD Production Credits

Extras Review: Red Dirt's most prominent extra feature is Peas and Cornóan odd 9-minute short film from writer/director Tag Purvis. Presented in a below-average, full-frame transfer, this black & white video contains an array of images that never meshed into a coherent whole in my mind. Brief shots of eerie trees, bridges, and older women having their hair done in a salon appear with no story. It reminds me of the type of film that would play at a multimedia exhibit in a local art museum or gallery. It is definitely an interesting piece of work, and it would be interesting to hear Purvis' thoughts about it.

The remaining supplements include the original theatrical trailer and selected filmographies for the four major stars. The preview makes the film look more like a thriller by stressing the tense emotions of the story. It also reveals nearly all of the pivotal scenes, including the final meeting between the two men. The filmographies contain only the year and film name, and would have been much improved with the use of cast biographies alongside them.

Extras Grade: C
 

Final Comments

Red Dirt tackles an intimate story but never really discovers a way to closely involve us in the hopes and dreams of the protagonists. Even within an impressive visual environment, my lack of interest in the story made it more difficult to enjoy the positives. Although its characters exhibit extreme emotions, they seldom manage to touch the heart and really draw us into becoming intrigued with their plight.

Dan Heaton 2001-11-01