Rent The Road Dance (2021)

Much to admire but ultimately falls flat - The Road Dance review by PD

There's much to admire in Richie Adams’ atmospheric period drama set in the Outer Hebrides - the nattering of local gossip, the roar of the ocean, and the village band’s music flow in the Scottish breeze from one frame to the next - but I'm afraid ultimately this adaptation of John MacKay’s novel of the same name falls flat in its attempt to portray oppression in a patriarchal society.

Hermione Corfield is very good indeed as young protagonist Kirsty, and both the production design and costumes are flawless, but the script is hellbent on a heavy-handed plot hinging on a key moment, after which the film defaults to cliché period drama tropes, with the result that the all the avenues for sensitivity which have been carefully established are then quickly abandoned. Kirsty is given some great lines: “Is every sin the same then? Are they all equal?” she asks towards the end, a bite behind her words as she comes to terms with the true horror of her situation, but any serious examination of her predicament is lost in some of the most in-your-face melodramatic character writing you'll see on screen, and the end-tying last fifteen minutes can't be taken seriously at all. Watchable enough, but for me it ends up being a disappointment.

Earnest but grim drama - The Road Dance review by Alphaville

Tragic drama set on the Isle of Lewis in 1916. Act 1 (i.e. first 30 minutes) is little more than Sunday night TV fare, then a tragic incident changes the life of our heroine and from then on it’s increasingly engrossing. The trailer gives the game away so do avoid that if you want to experience the film at its best. It’s hardly a fun watch, but you become so involved in the heroine’s plight that what at first seemed a one-star film now seems worthy of four stars, even if the ending is a tad unbelievable. And the production does seem to have misunderstood Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, which was meant to be ironic: whichever road you take, it makes no difference.

Watchable Melodrama - The Road Dance review by GI

A perfectly watchable melodrama that is all a little depressing despite the out of place and quite unnecessary saccharine infused ending, which lets it down. Set in the early days of the First World War on a remote outer Hebridean island where the small community is close and dominated by the strictness of religion. An early sermon by the calvinist preacher about sins of the flesh signposts the plot. Bright and beautiful Kirsty (Hermione Corfield) lives on the island with her mother (the great Morven Christie) and younger sister and she yearns for adventure. Her young man Murdo (Will Fletcher) has been called up and on the eve of his departure the community holds a farewell dance but Kirsty is attacked and raped that evening setting the narrative up as a crime mystery too. She inevitably falls pregnant which she tries to conceal for fear of the retribution of her neighbours. The film focuses on her plight and of identifying the culprit. Corfield carries the film and is very good and is no doubt an actor we shall see more of. The various plot lines keep you watching as tragedy piles on tragedy but there comes a time when you'll guess how it all plays out including the identity of the rapist and as I said the final scene sort of spoils the overall film with it's quite daft conclusion.