Red Riding: 1980 (James Marsh, 2009): UK

Reviewed by Jonas Pedersen Hardebrant. Viewed at Santa Barbara film festival.

The task to make an English criminal thriller trilogy for the big screen and make it original is a task most directors wouldn’t even dare to take a shot at. Mostly we encounter this genre in TV-series, but the three directors of the Red Riding trilogy decided to do it differently. And how they did it!  Not only did they pull of to create a trilogy where they each got a script and just went with it, no, they also made it nervrecking, terrible and interesting to watch.

The second movie in trilogy is Red Riding: 1980 which like the other two takes its place in the town of Yorkshire, England.  As each of the three movies is made by different directors they are in themselves freestanding movies. And although you catch up very quickly instantly in the credits, when you are elegantly guided in a visually stunning opening, I recommend that even in this case, like almost all other trilogies, you should see all of them in the right order.

When we first encounter the main character of the second movie, detective Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine), he is asked to take over the investigation of a brutal serial killer, called “The Ripper”, after the unsuccessful work of the former police in charge Bill Molloy (Warren Clarke). Hunter doesn’t need much time to agree, but he has one condition, which is that he can choose the investigation team he wants, and the background story to why he chooses detective Helen Marshall (Maxine Peake) and detective John Nolan (Tony Pitts) becomes clearer throughout the movie. The team starts working immediately, but the deeper they dig into the case, the more complex and difficult the story gets. When Hunter meets a young boy, who claims that there are more than one murderer, the dangerous game takes a new turn and the question is if Hunter can trust anyone around him?

The director in charge of the second movie, James Marsh (Man on Wire) is making this movie an absolute thrill to watch. Not only has he captured new perspectives and original viewings of the genre but he also plays with our minds throughout the entire movie and it is hard even to speculate what is going to happen next. There is playfulness in the usage of camera movement and angles, and both lightning and editing are done with such precision, which makes the movie one of its kind.

Still, you have to be certain about that you like the relatively small genre that English criminal thrillers are, as there are certain things that cannot be taken away.  The Grayness, the rain and the beer are of course included even in this original of its kind movie.

I feel that if this is just the beginning of what is going to be the new era of English criminal thrillers, we are definitely in for a ride. Because what this movie has showed is that you can still surprise and create original movies even in a genre that is so worn out. And who knows, maybe we will even see a female lead detective as the main character any time soon?