Country:
United Kingdom
Recognizable Faces:
Andrew Garfield
Sean Bean
Directed by:
Julian Jarrold
Manhood is a funny thing. Brings you some places you wouldn't go normally. Red Riding for example has been flagged to me as the greatest serial killer movie ever. It's been billed "The Godfather of serial killer movies". Being a manly cinema lover, I HAD to go and watch this. Because, you know, when you're a man (and a crime buff), you HAVE to go and watch the ballsiest thing on earth.
So AT, Josie and me ended up sitting in the ever amazing Cinema du Parc on a Saturday night, with a world of expectations.
STORYTELLING
Obviously, there's a murderer on the loose. 1974, England is as grey and gloomy as ever and there are little girls getting tortured, raped and killed on grey and gloomy construction sites. Standard serial killer movie? Not so much. All the little girls killed were wearing a red vest with a hood and had - for some reason only known to a sick mind - swan wings (LIVE swan wings) stitched to their back. So there's a deranged dude, walking around chopping swans and killing children. Lovely. Good premisce.
We follow Eddie Dunford (Garfield), young smart journalist and plague of his parents, who's lead on the trail of the murders by his angsty and sexually abitious colleague Barry Gannon (Anthony Flanagan). The latter had found a connection in between the murders and the owner of the construction sites they were found on John Dawson (Bean). Dawson is a rich man, an influent businessman and a psychopath that calls the shots on whatever he feels like. Soon enough, self-righteous Eddie and control freak John clash head to head in an unfair fight.
The story is a television adaptation from a series of novels by David Peace. I'd be curious to read them, but watching the movie, I couldn't help but to feel I was watching a watered down version of Stieg Larsson's Millenium. Not sure which one came first, but Red Riding isn't as deep and complex as the Swede's work of noir. Eddie Dunsford is also not as lovable as Lisbeth Salander (OK, honestly, it's hard to live up to Lisbeth). Really, Red Riding (well, the first movie) feels like a very short novel or one that would have some missing pages.
DIRECTION
I have to give it to Julian Jarrold, this is a beautiful movie. The wide shots are well-studied and the framing is bright and colourful. There is a lot of action going on within the frame. It's charged, but it's still fun to look at. While discussing the movie with my friend Mustafa, he made an interesting point, saying that the Red Riding movies are replicating the style of their times. It's true to a certain extent. They are replicating the repertoire styles of their era.
Another interesting point is the use of flashback in a non-linear way. They are popping over the narration without warning. During sleep or absent-minded streaks, Eddie Dunsford is haunted by these sights and Julian Jarrold crafts a ghastly feeling to it. Too bad they have very little to do with the actual narration.
ACTING
Andrew Garfield (also known as Spiderman) has a hard role to camp as he's supposed to play the everyman thrown into an impossible situation. He doesn't have redeeming qualities. He's not funny, witty or even charming. His self-destructive search for the truth comes up a little empty. Would anyone be better than him for the role? Maybe have a different approach? We'll never know. Garfield is really just an overseas Topher Grace.
Sean Bean kicks some asses and takes names as the bad guy. He's a bit of a cardboard cutout character in John Dawson, but Bean plays it with great energy. That's what great with Bean. Limited talent, but he always goes balls-to-the-wall in whatever he does. Rebecca Hall as Paula Garland and Robert Sheehan as transvestite BJ are also enjoyable and stand out from the ordinary cast.
INTEREST
Let's be fair, Red Riding Trilogy was made for TV. It's pretty darn amazing television if you ask me. The main problem I have with it is that it's not living up to its promises. It's a hit, when I was expecting a grand slam. There's a strong direction and the tale has some potential, but the first strike of the trilogy left me on my appetite. It's a heavy and intellectual movie, drowned in superfluous dialogues and pacing problems. It's beautiful, but it's over-aesthetized. The narration is great, but it doesn't live up to the hype it created for itself.
SCORE: B
