Red Riding: 1983 (2009)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Anand Tucker

Writers:

David Peace (novel)
Tony Grisoni (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 March 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

The seemingly untouchable, corrupt West Yorkshire police, and the true evil mastermind behind the child abductions and murders of the last 14 years, can't resist doing it again. Against them, a fat useless lawyer, and one remorseful copper. |

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

David Morrissey	...	Maurice Jobson
Lisa Howard	...	Judith Jobson
Chris Walker	...	Jim Prentice
Shaun Dooley	...	Dick Alderman
Jim Carter	...	Harold Angus
Warren Clarke	...	Bill Molloy
Sean Bean	...	John Dawson
Sean Harris	...	Bob Craven
Steven Robertson	...	Bob Fraser
Tony Mooney	...	Tommy Douglas
Tony Pitts	...	John Nolan
Michelle Dockery	...	Kathryn Tyler
Andrew Cryer	...	Mr Atkins (as Andy Cryer)
Mark Addy	...	John Piggott
Beatrice Kelley	...	Mrs Myshkin

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:103 min (European Film Market)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Leeds Independent Studio, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Film

Quotes:

[raising his glass as he proposes a toast]
Bill Molloy: To the North - where we do what we bloody want!

Movie Connections:

Follows Red Riding: 1974 (2009)

Criminal Thriller is not a word I will use for this, more like: Disturbing.

The Red Riding trilogy is not something one would normally watch for comedy style entertainment. The underworld criminal corruption and fascist bastard Yorkshire police encountered so far in the first two parts are just touching the surface of this crime drama; beneath this is sick, violent and twisted evil. And the final episode lays it bare.

I have to say the performance by the cast is extraordinary. Sure, you can say that actors like Sean Bean and Paddy Considine do possess a degree of cool and that they easily endow upon their character roles. However, in the final part, something happens which really surprised me and gave me the creeps.

The setting for this trilogy: 1970-1980's Britain, has touched a nostalgic nerve in me - a 40 year old Brit. However, my memories of Gypsies, vandalised cars on the street and the grassy wilderness that carries on from the back garden are all fond memories of my childhood. Red Riding brought me back into these days and these places, and introduced a host of beastly horrors and brutal realities of which - until now - I was blithely unaware.

Finally, I guess that in conclusion, I was specially targeted by this. But it may just be well-written, expertly researched, quintessentially British, supported by a great cast and neatly photographed. And the impact that was intended for the end - certainly worked on me.