Rating: 
Summary: A very good film
Review: There are enough reviews here that give plot details, so I won't repeat them. Opinions seem to fall into two categories: people either really liked it, or really disliked it. For starters, let's clear up any confusion over what the film is, and what it's trying to be. It is not a film about coming out. It is not a film that contains scenes with overt male sexual contact (though there is overt heterosexual contact). There is a powerful love interest between the two male leads, but the film doesn't hit the viewer over the head with it. For some viewers, that will make the film too slow and too boring. I think that they're missing the point.The story starts slowly, and the dialog at the very beginning sounded stilted and stereotypically Southern gothic. However, that problem disappeared within a few minutes, and overall, I found the screenplay to be believable and well written. I agree with the reviewers who praised Karen Black's performance. In fact, the entire cast was quite good. In spite of their various flaws, each of them had some trait or characteristic that allowed the viewer to identify with them. My main objection was the quality of the DVD transfer, which others have praised. I didn't like the washed-out picture quality that seemed to afflict almost every daylight scene. The actual cinematography was excellent, with beautifully composed scenes, but too many seemed to be over-exposed. This may have been a conscious decision on the part of the director to make some sort of artistic statement, but if so, it escaped me. The interior and night-time scenes were more balanced. My other complaint had to do with the soundtrack. The DVD offers two options, a 5.1 surround, and a 2-channel surround. The 5.1 soundtrack was inferior to the 2-channel track. As an example, the ambient noise of crickets at night was quite audible on the 2-channel track, but dropped out entirely with the 5.1 track. Dialogue was also more muffled with the 5.1 track. This is of course the exact opposite of what one would expect. Aside from these technical problems, the film itself is very good.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing film
Review: This film was such a dissapointment. Although the theme of a young rural kid in the Deep South trying to get out of hicksville and make it "out there" via a stranger blowing into town is a little over-done, the movie could have been saved by a good script (meaning good dialogue, rich characterizations), good acting, or good cinematography. Well, one out of three ain't bad. The cinematography was great. But the script was really bad. Not only was the dialogue at times trite and cliched, but the movie didn't let the characters build meaningful relationships (as in the love between the two male leads). Instead, the director/writer jumps ahead many many steps to where two guys acknowledge their "love" for each other, but we don't get to see them "fall" in love along the way. Nor do we get to see much of what makes anyone else in this film tick. At the movie's climax two men resolve the romantic tension between them by proclaiming their love for each other. But what made this movie SOOO BAD was again the writer/director having them part company after this. No explanation why, and it left the roomful of my friends who were watching along with me last night feeling confused and annoyed. I suspect the reason this movie tip-toed so much around a gay theme and why this supposed passionate love the main characters share for each was inexplicably and illogically snuffed out was because the director wanted to market this movie to a larger straight audience. He (i think) chickened out of showing two men running away together, in order to sanitize the film for straight moviegoers. The big "risk" he felt he took was allowing a 2 second kiss between Griffith and Lee. What still has me perplexed is how amazon (whose reviews i agree with 99% of the time) raves about this crappy film, as have so many of the reviewing public as well. What are they all thinking? By the way, Karen Black's performance was the best of all the acting in this movie (which ain't saying much), but nothing of oscar-calibre, trust me. Don't even bother with this one. If you like [bad] movies, you'll feel disappointed in the apparent homophobic way the director allows two men to resolve their love for each other. If you like heartfelt dramas set in the deep south with lush backgrounds and complex characterizations, what you'll get is characters who aren't allowed to build truly meaningful relationships, cliched dialogue, and mediocre acting. Ugh
Rating:
Summary: RUN! Do NOT Rent, Buy or See this awful movie!
Review: I love gay cinema and I forgive independant gay films for shoddy production, mediocre acting and cliched scripts. However I CANNOT forgive utter boredom. On a positive note this film is shot beautifully - whoever did their production design and cinematography should have a long future in filmmaking. However whoever directed, edited or wrote this should go back to school. This is so boring, so pointless and such a waste of time I cannot even accurately describe how much I would like that time back. The whole movie we wait for the two male leads to hook up and then they have a 2 second kiss. It is so awful - like a build up to nothing. (The actors are very hot) This is the best example I can find of a movie trailer being 100 times more interesting than the film. The trailer makes this look like a really good tale of secrets, forbidden romance etc. They even slow motion the kiss between the guys to make it seem like there is more there than in the movie. How people gave this positive reviews on here I do not know. But if you type in any of the worst movies you have ever seen you will see SOMEONE who raves about it. (Type in Howard the Duck as an example) Ugh! Run do not walk. My friends still have not forgiven me for making them watch this trash.
Rating:
Summary: Make another choice
Review: Unless you are a fan of the actors in this film, I suggest you make another choice. I showed this film to a group of friends, having only the reviews on Amazon to go by, and the resounding comment was dismal. The progression of this movie is extremely SLOW and the speaking is muffled. There is a reason why there are so many copies of this movie up for re-sale.
Rating:
Summary: Kiss my grits
Review: I was surprised at the many favorable reviews this movie received here, since I consider it one of the very worst that I have ever sat all the way through. (Frankly, I sat through it only because the protagonist was so good-looking and I was hoping, fruitlessly, as it turned out, for some erotic action between him and the other actor.) The dialogue, the acting, and, especially, the directing were all misguided to the point of psychosis. WHAT WAS KAREN BLACK THINKING? This movie shows what happens when a talented actress is tripped up by ghastly dialogue and incompetent directing (both compliments of the same person, I believe). Her performance recalled some of Carol Burnett's most memorable parodies on her TV show of the 70s. Nothing in the movie seemed to make sense or be based on any kind of natural behavior, including the completely unfathomable and frustrating ending, in which the two men part for no good reason after just having realized that they are in love. I will say that Dan Montgomery, in spite of everything, shows talent and maintains his dignity in difficult circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful Storytelling
Review: Red Dirt accurately features the longing desire of the wanderlost who feel compelled to leave their homes, but the fears and trepidations of leaving creates a hellish limbo. The actual romance is not the forefront of the film. Primarily, the film 'documents' the indecision of one young man due to the supposed death of his parents, his relationship with his cousin, and the stranger who captures his heart. It is a story that I believe many people, around the country, can sympathize with. Karen Black gives an outstanding supporting character performance (where has she been?). It is amazing that Big Eden is more widely appreciated than this film which has a deeper, and more maturely displayed theme than many 'gay' movies available. It is an a-typical portrayal of one gay man's coming out to himself when the world has already known.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant surprise
Review: Red Dirt is the story of a young man's sexual awakening. This beautifully sculpted film amidst lilac and magnolia, is a tale of self-discovery and denied fulfilment. Rich with subplots reminiscent of a Faulkner novel, incest, mental illness and stifled desires can all be found here. Despite his rather awkward Southernese, Dan Montgomery does an admirable job playing Griffith, a shyish young man, who has been denied a life through a mix of tragedy and complacency. Having lost his parents in a car accident, he lives with his unstable aunt, who wiles away her days locked in her room listening to opera music. His aunt (Karen Black) keeps Griffith as her servant and in many ways, surrogate husband, forcing him to endure her hysterics and self-indulgence. Griffith is in fact, the only man of their 'red dirt' farm, caught up in a life stuck in neutral. Griffith's only emotional outlet is his cousin, Emily. Emily's character(Alexsa Palladino) is also imprisoned in a maze of isolation and hopelessness. Without friends nor father, she is tormented by a naggy mother, who can't understand her. Both her and Griffith become lovers in their quest to find something, somebody worth clinging to. But their relationship is a mere substitute for the real thing. Griffith knows something aint right, but he lacks the will to do something about it. In fact, all the characters seem to be paralyzed in some kind of inertia until a strong-willed stranger arrives to the farm, wanting a room. He (the sexy Walter Goggins) brings a freshness to the humid stultification of both farm and town. He's a wanderer with little regard for his past and not too much concern for his future. He sees all too clearly the sordid, lifeless condition of Griffith and Emily's dependence and offers the possibility of something new. He presents a chance for Griffith to wake up from his sleepy delusion and really begin to discover who he is and what his life could be. Then, what starts as a boyish friendship slowly rolls into something more. This something, highlighted with an intense kiss and some subdued homoerotic frolics, is done ever so subtly. Red Dirt is an exploration of choices and their effect on lives and feelings. It can't really be called a gay film. It is simply a film about the 'potential' for a gay relationship. Yet, this potential is never fully explored, as Griffith chooses security instead of freedom and love. We're left to imagine the what if's of the men's thwarted relationship.
With solid performances (especially Goggins) and some bright new talents, Palladino for one, Red Dirt delves into territory that is little touched by film nowadays, the tension between emotional security and daring to be who we need to be.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging in all the righ places
Review: Red Dirt is an engaging movie of substance, and it encapsulates the senses close to the heart. There are two things that this movie has going for it : Engaging dialogue and the absolute notion that the two leads could be heading nowhere or somewhere, fast. A youngster dying to leave a place with distorted realities(the place makes you crazy just by being there) encounters a drifter with dispositions as enamouring as his invites promising. Red Dirt presents that intriguing place where we are defined by where we are, too, at times. Duties, family and roots, these are entrapments to our lead character but does he have it in him to leave? This enrapturing stranger, that stirs all kinds of masculine connection (is he a fulcrum of destruction, or a platform out). The possibility of loving a fellow man in every sense of the word is explored, but inadequately. But that is the charm of Red Dirt, though. You get to deduce what they imply. Even when they overtly kiss, the words are not completely committing. I love that about Red Dirt. Frustrating, yet rapturous! Red Dirt puts the protagonists in very precarious cross roads, but unfortunately, their destinations aren't particularly interesting. The crazyness of the binding family became a distraction instead of character development. Good acting(Karen Black, G., and Dan Montgomery) couldn't help. In the end, Red Dirt fails because it didn't launch the characters. It sets a good premise, but it traps itself into either a predictable ending, or a can-you-believe-it one. Won't spoil your viewing pleaure. In any case, Montgomery alone could justify viewing this movie. Arresting and abundantly broody. Montgomery is as gorgeous as the cinematography is unbelievaby alluring. Buy this, because everytime you see it, the dialogue transforms to different possible interpretations. it is this luminous achievement that made me give it that extra star. Just to convince you: Add rain to a gay kiss, river to playful suggestive men on tree trunks. C'mon, that's gotta work, right?
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Despite some lovely cinematography and serious eye-candy (Dan Montgomery, the star of the movie), "Red Dirt" is tragically flawed. With stilted, unnatural dialogue, ham-handed and mostly hysterical theatrics, and entirely too much melodrama for its own good, the movie begins with very little as a premise, and ends with very little as a conclusion. The writing is sloppy and meanders pointlessly back and forth, with storylines that have no place within the primary plot, and viewers are left, after an hour and forty-five minutes of bad Southern drawls and D-grade "subplots", with one badly-acted kiss, and very little resolution. While I tend to give the world of gay film much leeway, in this case, I'm afraid, nothing but condemnation will do. Not worth purchasing, and only marginally worth renting.
Rating:
Summary: A Touching Film
Review: "Red Dirt" suprisingly was more than I expected. Yes, the movie tended to move slowly toward the climax, but I think it worked with what the director was aiming for. If you're expecting to see explicit sexual expression then this is not the movie for you, yet it takes you on an imaginative journey and the story is compelling. Karen Black was exceptional, despite what some may say. The role is what it is and she justified it. I highly recommend adding this to your collection.
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