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.

Road Dance - The Road Dance review by MC

very good period drama but disturbing turn of plot that we should have been warned about in the synopsis (i.e. before ordering disc)