A disappointment. I'd heard good things about this trilogy of films from England and finally caught the first part, 1974. Each of the films explores, through a different main character, facets of a series of child killings in Yorkshire, England. I had a lot of problems with the first installment. It felt purposefully confusing, as though the director (Julian Jarrold, director of the terrible, recent Brideshead Revisited remake) wanted to make sure he wasn't directing a straight-up serial killer whodunnit, that what he was doing was artier and more ambiguous. It just felt like a mess to me: overly arty cinematography, character motivation that made no sense, and ultimately, a movie done in by some of the cliches of its genre. There were good actors in this: Sean Bean, Peter Mullan, Andrew Garfield, Rebecca Hall (in picture), but they couldn't save it. Don't know right now if I plan on catching the other two in this trilogy.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974
A disappointment. I'd heard good things about this trilogy of films from England and finally caught the first part, 1974. Each of the films explores, through a different main character, facets of a series of child killings in Yorkshire, England. I had a lot of problems with the first installment. It felt purposefully confusing, as though the director (Julian Jarrold, director of the terrible, recent Brideshead Revisited remake) wanted to make sure he wasn't directing a straight-up serial killer whodunnit, that what he was doing was artier and more ambiguous. It just felt like a mess to me: overly arty cinematography, character motivation that made no sense, and ultimately, a movie done in by some of the cliches of its genre. There were good actors in this: Sean Bean, Peter Mullan, Andrew Garfield, Rebecca Hall (in picture), but they couldn't save it. Don't know right now if I plan on catching the other two in this trilogy.
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