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FilmLover wrote on 05/04/2011:

I have this film from its original pressing a decade ago and it remains in my Top 10 for gay-themed features. Considering the many quickie gay features that are shoddily made these days, to watch a film with truly inspired and lush cinematography, a humid and haunting Southern gothic atmosphere, and memorable performances (incuding pre-fame roles for Aleksa Palladino and Walton Goggins, plus a truly refined performance from Karen Black) makes you wish our films were still made with such attention to detail and meant to make you feel something (other than the sense that you won't get that 90 minutes of your life back).

A bit surprised that lead actor Dan Montgomery and director Tag Purvis didn't break out further considering the quality of the film but anyone who enjoys romantic, unapologetically gay films will absolutely love this story.

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/21/2011:

“Red Dirt”
Romance
Amos Lassen
“Red Dirt” is an enigmatic film dealing with two major themes—agoraphobia and claustrophobia. As the film deals with the difficulty and pain of expressing love and the changes that love takes, we are witness to a southern family and how love affects it. This film is one that demands complete immersion into the story line. Set along the Mississippi River, the presence of the South is readily felt from the moment the movie opens. It revolves around the character of Griffin who longs to leave the south after finishing high school but feels an obligation to stay and see to his Aunt Summer (a bravura performance by Karen Black) who raises him after his parents died. Summer is not a well woman; she suffers from depression or is bi-polar—we do not know. She closer herself up in a room listening to operas. When he is not tending to his aunt, Grif hangs around with his cousin, Emily. Suddenly everything changes when a young drifter, Lee, comes on the scene and becomes Grif’s friend.
There is a lot of character development in the movie. We see that Grif comes to terms with his sexuality with a quick kiss to Lee and so ends the question in his mind as to what he s sexually. Overtly gay, this film is not but after a second viewing of it. I saw many things I did not see the first time. When we meet Lee, we think that he is nothing more than a drifter with no goal in his life and no sense of direction.
The script has many problems but the movie has any pluses that negate the minuses. The acting is superb as is the cinematography. The emotional tenseness of the film is overwhelming. We not only see the emotions but we feel them as well. Although the movie is set in the present, the characters were not ready to admit their true feelings because of a primitive belief system in which the characters believed. Because of this, romance was not allowed to blossom. Perhaps this is reflective of people who are trapped by what they consider to be the rules of society. Yet with that the movie is a love story. It also deals with the evil perpetrated by the women in this movie. The lies and manipulations and calculations that they concocted were responsible to make Griffin the nervous wreck that he was. Griffin was unable to make his escape and he stays, imprisoned by a half-mad woman. He had the chance to find happiness but instead he imprisons his life by staying. It isn’t to the bizarre end of the movie that any hope surfaces for Grif.
In today’s world of determinist sexuality and the politics of identity, this movie fails drastically. People fall in and out of love and there is the overt hint that sex and love do not have to be related. This s what I found to be so interesting in “Red Dirt”. Instead of the usual teenage coming out story there is no tediousness. It is a movie that s quite simply about love minus all of the gay clichés so associated with coming out.

just a reviewer wrote on 02/09/2006:

SPOILERS++++++SPOILERS+++++++SPOILERS+++++++SPOILERS

While an ending's being happy is not a requirement in any good film, it is certainly important that it be comprehensible. And in the case of this film, that ending is completely incomprehensible to me (you know, just doesn't make sense). Here we have an aimless drifter (Lee Todd) who we are led to believe has no particular goal in life, no place he needs to head out to (early on he even says himself: "Hell, I don't even know where I'm headed, exactly." Character Griffth's response: "You're driving without any direction?" Then, Lee: "I was headed this way." Then, Griffith: "East, without any destination?" Finally, Lee: "Yeah.") And, so what happens at film's end (after Griffith's being told a bit of rather astonishing and unsettling relationship news by Karen Black's character) when G. finally realizes and declares his love for Lee, but at the same time indicates he cannot leave together as they'd planned? Well, what happens is that the busy, busy, suddenly-on-a-mission Lee finds it vital to immediately leave the scene? Duh! Must be he has an appointment with the President of the United States, or some such. Plus, I guess it's not at all important that he's just heard the one declaration he'd been hoping to hear from the man he loves. In the final analysis, I do think that Griffith would have gone off with Lee had he not just found out what he did (but for now it would have to wait). Therefore, I cannot blame Griffith for the choice he made, at a critical point in his life----I can understand it. What I cannot understand is Lee's final behavior of hurrying up and 'skeedadling.' Perhaps Director Purvis has some reasoning for it (possibly he needed a tragic or unhappy ending?), but it's certainly beyond my comprehension. (Too bad the DVD is missing a Director's Commentary).

Despite my problem concerning logicality of the script, I nevertheless have to recognize one especially notable thing about this production. For me, that is the one actor who truly stands head and shoulders above the rest: Walton Goggins. This man possesses a very unusual "trembling intensity" to the emotional level he reaches in some scenes......an intensity which builds to the point of being passed to the viewer. A particularly notable example of this is a near end-of-film scene in which he has found Griffith to say goodbye. The emotional "shaking" which he is able to build to, as he apologizes for past feelings and acts expressed to Griffith, reaches an almost overwhelming level, pulling us--almost shaking as well--into his emotional turmoil. We not only watch and hear what he is saying; we begin to feel what he is feeling. Now, that's acting.

NOTE: One full star has been awarded just for what are, till recently, the most beautifully filmed outdoor scenes ever noted in a production having a major gay theme. The film's Introductory/Credit Roll scenes, as well as other outdoor shots, are absolutely stunning. (The "till recently" refers to the award winning cinematography of Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain")

dxg777 (dxg777@cox.net) wrote on 09/13/2005:

If you're looking for gay porn, don't buy this movie, if you're looking for a great movie about a love affair between two guys, with great production values, excellent scenery, great acting (bravo to Karen Black!), then buy this movie. I love movies that deal with gay issues, and this one ranks up there with; Maurice, My Beautiful Laundrette & Beautiful Thing. Two guys don't need to have sex to love each other, and this movie proves it.

Lady Mol (ladymoluk@gmail.com) wrote on 02/23/2005:

If you want great cinematography and a dreamlike film with long discussions about vegetables, then this is the film for you. If you want the least bit of a gay story, then I advise you look elsewhere. Like another reviewer, I didn't see the run in the rain sequence, and even the cover shot on the box (arms around each other) isn't in the movie. This film is about the successful denial of being gay. Not even worth renting let alone buying.