Behind the Red Door

2003

Drama

13
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 73% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1823 1.8K

woman director

Director

Matia Karrell Photo
Matia Karrell

Top cast

Kiefer Sutherland Photo
Kiefer Sutherland as Roy
Chuck Shamata Photo
Chuck Shamata as Father
Philip Craig Photo
Philip Craig as Detective Kinzer
Kyra Sedgwick Photo
Kyra Sedgwick as Natalie
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
965.33 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds ...
1.94 GB
1920*1080
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 6 / 10

No One Prefers to Be Alone

The talented photographer Natalie (Kyra Sedgwick) is having financial difficulties in New York. Her friend and agent Julia (Stockard Channing) finds a two day job in Boston for US$ 20,000.00, and the reluctant Natalie accepts the work due to her need of money. When she arrives, she finds that she was hired by her arrogant gay brother Roy (Kiefer Sutherland), a successful designer. Natalie has broken the relationship and they have not seen each other for ten years. When she finishes her assignment, Roy asks her to stay one more day for his birthday party, and after that he tells her that he has AIDS. Natalie stays with him and along his last days, their resentments change to fraternal love."Behind the Red Door" is a little movie, with a single and quite pointless story and great performances. Kiefer Sutherland surprises in the role of gay – we are used to see him performing tough detectives and agents; Kyra Sedgwick is also great, as usual, and Stockard Channing is wasted in a minor role. Unfortunately the screenplay is not good: the quarrel of the siblings, why they have broken their relationship, is never explained; the death of their mother by the father is pointless and goes nowhere; and the financial position of the siblings could suggest that Natalie stayed with and bore Roy in the beginning just because of his wealthy testament and job position – Roy promises to pay for everything, even for her to stay with him in his birthday party. The lead trio of actor and actresses deserved a better screenplay. My vote is six.Title (Brazil) "Uma Porta Para o Passado" ("A Door to the Past")
Reviewed by malcolmallancrossfield 7 / 10

Sutherland's excellent acting saves an otherwise below-par film

"Behind The Red Door" is a film I picked up for two reasons: there was nothing else in, and Kiefer Sutherland, in my opinion, is the greatest under-rated actor today. The film starts off slowly, and doesn't really pick up. Natalie (Kyra Sedgwick) plays Kiefer's estranged sister. In fact, the two haven't seen each other in ten years. They are brought together due to Roy's (Kiefer Sutherland) sickness. The sickness isn't mentioned in the film, but because Roy is homosexual, we are brought to the conclusion that it is probably AIDS. Roy asks (or, rather demands) that Natalie be his nurse, as he does not want to die surrounded by strangers. To make things slightly more complicated, Natalie is starting to remember long-lost memories from her past about the death of her mother, and her abusive father, whom she believes killed her. Fans of the adrenaline-pumped drama "24" will be amazed at the acting skills of Kiefer. In "24", he plays an Anti-Terrorist Agent with a short temper, but in "Behind The Red Door", he plays an obvious homosexual, and the performance is BELIEVABLE. There are some scenes that might bring a tear or two to your eye, the most notable being a close up of Roy when he starts to cry. "Behind The Red Door" wasn't the greatest film, the director wasn't very good, the editing was terrible, and the soundtrack sometimes didn't suit the mood of the film, but Kiefer's Oscar-worthy performance (if this film was directed by a well-known director, and was publicly well-known at the time of release, Kiefer would've been nominated) saves the film. You start to care about Roy, you feel that he's an actual person, and you feel deep sympathy for him. If you're going to pick this film up for anything, let it be Sutherland's performance. Otherwise, pick something else up.
Reviewed by sigggyfreud 7 / 10

The pain of dying young

I watched this movie on cable recently because there was nothing else on at the time. The power of the film caught me by surprise--I'm amazed that it apparently didn't rate wider distribution (couldn't find a review in either of my movie guides). Its the story of a gay advertising exec (Sutherland) dying from AIDS and the complicated relationship that he has with his estranged sister (Sedgwick), a talented photographer. There are also references to the equally complicated relationships with their father (who probably murdered their mother). The realistic portrayal of these relationships is what drives this movie, bolstered by the outstanding performances of the actors. Sutherland is powerful as a dying man who is terrified and shows it by his alternating pleas for help and outbursts of anger at being helpless. Sedgwick is equally good as the sister who is cowed by her brother but trying to piece together the past and find resolution to the situation. The writer/director dedicated the film to "my brother Roy" and one wonders if this is the reason the film rings so true.
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