His two leads, Adam Plotch and Talia Rubel as Adam and Lilly respectively are called upon to do some difficult and emotionally draining work. Any number of their scenes could have disintegrated into overacting and melodrama, but they and the director have done a fine job of keeping it as real as possible.
Both roles call for degrees of subtlety that would be difficult for many actors to handle, but these two do valiant work in difficult circumstances. Some of their scenes together could not have been easy to perform, and they should be given credit for doing them in such a credible manner.
Like Last Exit, Red Cockroaches deals with subject matter that is far from mainstream and not for the delicate. But instead of being worried about squeamishness, I would worry about the emotional burden placed on the viewer by this movie.
Some may find the end of the movie leaves too many questions unanswered, but relationships like Adam and Lilly's go beyond rationale; anyway on the back of the DVD box it says something about Red Cockroaches being the first of three movies, so maybe the answers are still forthcoming.
There's a fine line between violent gross-out B movie flicks, and razor sharp independent movies that go places studio movies wouldn't dare. Both Last Exit and Red Cockroaches manage to stay on the right side of that line and present grim, challenging views of the world. They might be unsettling, but so is the world. CORRECTIONS:LM
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