thomas4cinema

I think not too many people have seen this, so it may be worth to add a short introduction: Red Riding consists of three films, all playing in Northern England, in Yorkshire, lined up around the centerpiece of disappearing girls. I will not give away anything. Not knowing details pays off. At the end of the first part, I felt very happy that my lack of plot knowledge kept me from anticipating what happened. So stay away from plot spoilers, better stay away from any kind of content summary. Suffice to say, all three films (being named after the year they play in, “1974”, “1980” and “1983” respectively) have the matter of the disappearing girls in common, and follow the people trying to find a kidnapper or killer.

This is a British copper movie, on one level, even though some of the investigators are journalists. The roughness of 1970s and 1980s Northern England, the lack of perspective, social conflicts, violence, political upheavals, all join in to paint a great background image of a society that’s rotten on so many levels, torn to pieces by political and economic failure.

The best of British actors helps to make this credible: British-bred Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan (so awesome recently in “Tyrannosaur”!), David Morrissey, Sean Bean, Paddy Considine … the list is long of faces very familiar even to those who do not frequently chase down the latest BBC shows.

Red Riding is as good as UK film and tv productions can get. It is rough, it has edgy, very edgy characters, it does not give a damn about political correctness, it features blunt realism paired with great drama. Excellent!

1974: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_riding_1974/ (directed by Julian Jarrold)

1980: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_riding_1980/ (James Marsh)

1983: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red_riding_1983/ (Anand Tucker)