Final part of the Red Riding Trilogy (based on the Red Riding Quartet) concerns the events that transpire several years past the previous film. The Ripper is in prison, as is the killer of young girls. The trouble is that another young girl goes missing and its echoing the nastiness that the police are desperate to keep buried.
I'm feeling like I was punched in the gut. This is a descent into pure evil and there seems to be little hope of escape. To be honest I'm not sure what I just saw but I need a bath.
Time tripping film requires one pays a great deal of attention since the story meanders back and forth through time in such away that its not always clear when we are. Its a film that closely mirrors memory as we shift through several characters time lines. The un-rooted effect keeps you off balance which when coupled with the films continuous revelations creates an effect similar to being hit by a truck. I know some people don't like this film much because it seems so disjointed but I think if you can go with it you will be richly rewarded. (this is not a film to watch on fast forward, something I think at least one reviewer did) Supposedly the three Red Riding films can be seen separately and still have them work, and I think that's the case with the first two films in the sequence. Personally I think the first film works completely on its own, and while numerous plot points are left hanging, there is nothing to say that the story must go on. Similarly the second film works when viewed alone. yes there are references to the earlier film, but until the final minutes I think it works on its own terms.
That is not the case here. Here the film bounces through time and refers so much to what has gone before that the anyone who watched this with out seeing the previous films would have none of the back story or the references to earlier events. I know I would have wondered why some things were not explained.
I know the unease is such that even the ending which has some great images some how has a different sort of impact than one thinks... it is some how fitting for a film (and a series) that has confounded my expectations.
What do I think of the three films? I think the films have a great deal of power. I think they are quite good. I also think that I need to see them again, partly to see what I missed previously and to have it all knitted together. But at the same time I need to see what the films were getting at. I'm still not sure what all of this is about short of a look at festering corruption.
If you want challenging film-making see the films.
I'm feeling like I was punched in the gut. This is a descent into pure evil and there seems to be little hope of escape. To be honest I'm not sure what I just saw but I need a bath.
Time tripping film requires one pays a great deal of attention since the story meanders back and forth through time in such away that its not always clear when we are. Its a film that closely mirrors memory as we shift through several characters time lines. The un-rooted effect keeps you off balance which when coupled with the films continuous revelations creates an effect similar to being hit by a truck. I know some people don't like this film much because it seems so disjointed but I think if you can go with it you will be richly rewarded. (this is not a film to watch on fast forward, something I think at least one reviewer did) Supposedly the three Red Riding films can be seen separately and still have them work, and I think that's the case with the first two films in the sequence. Personally I think the first film works completely on its own, and while numerous plot points are left hanging, there is nothing to say that the story must go on. Similarly the second film works when viewed alone. yes there are references to the earlier film, but until the final minutes I think it works on its own terms.
That is not the case here. Here the film bounces through time and refers so much to what has gone before that the anyone who watched this with out seeing the previous films would have none of the back story or the references to earlier events. I know I would have wondered why some things were not explained.
I know the unease is such that even the ending which has some great images some how has a different sort of impact than one thinks... it is some how fitting for a film (and a series) that has confounded my expectations.
What do I think of the three films? I think the films have a great deal of power. I think they are quite good. I also think that I need to see them again, partly to see what I missed previously and to have it all knitted together. But at the same time I need to see what the films were getting at. I'm still not sure what all of this is about short of a look at festering corruption.
If you want challenging film-making see the films.