As I have noted in my previous posts on RED RIDING and RED RIDING 2, the notion of making three films by three different directors in consecutive order concerning the identical characters, setting and overall plot written by the same writer is unprecedented. On the basis of innovation and craft alone, the experiment is a resounding success. That being said, I found RED RIDER: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1983 to be the least gripping of the trio of films set in West Yorkshire in the 1970s and 80s. It features a brilliant performance by Mark Addy as a criminal defense lawyer given two hopeless clients: one a clear dimwitted young man convicted of murdering a young girl, and best friend who is accused of a second murder, and equally innocent. But innocence doesn’t count for much in the RED RIDING films – it inevitably loses out to evil, mostly in the form of the Yorkshire police. RED RIDING 3 features sequences most difficult to sit through, as the homicide detectives commit torture, plain and simple. This isn’t a jailhouse beating, but something planned and ruthlessly administered until the desired result, usually a confession. Addy wades into the middle of this corrupt mess just as Paddy Considine had three years earlier, and he ended up with a bullet in the middle of his forehead for his trouble. The problem underlying all three stories has never gone away: little girls keep disappearing. Paralleling the reluctant investigation by the Yorkshire men (after all, they already have a convicted child killer in custody) is the crisis of conscience experienced by David Morrissey’s chief police inspector. Stuck with the name Maurice, which sounds especially poufy in the Yorkshire dialect, he is lectured to, warned to keep his peace, haunted by his memories from the earlier two stories, and has no idea of whom to turn to. He makes an unfortunate choice in picking the itinerant cleric played subtly by Peter Mullan, who has been a sympathetic figure in the first two films. The Agatha Christie elements of this plot, which should feel climactic after the depressing and frustrating endings (at least for the characters) in RED RIDING 1 and 2 are wasted in a confusing storytelling and editing style. There are flashbacks to 1974, other flashbacks to 1980, present day sequences and possibly even a flash-forward – I couldn’t be sure, and there’s the rub. This was an impossible plot structure to follow, and I was paying close attention. When the final reveal comes, it feels strangely anti-climactic and not at all cathartic. No one expects the Yorkshire police to change their brutal tactics, and there is no happy outcome possible given the grim circumstances within which the characters find themselves. But to have it all come down to underground corridors and pale little girls makes RED RIDING 3 seem more like a Hollywood thriller than either of its predecessors. Since the downbeat nature of the plot excludes much of the commercial audience, why bother? It was disappointing to have the closing chapter of an exciting and groundbreaking film series fail to fully complete the story on a satisfying note. But today’s movie industry could do with many more storytelling experiments such as the RED RIDING series.

Dir.: Anand Tucker, 2009. 100 mins. UK. Channel Four Film, Lipsynch Prods., Revolution Films.  Produced by Wendy Brazington, Andrew Eaton, Anita Overland. Screenplay by Tony Grisoni, based on novel by David Peace. Cinematography by David Higgs. Edited by Trevor Waite. Production design by Alison Dominitz. Music by Barrington Pheloung. With Mark Addy, David Morrissey, Daniel Mays, Robert Sheehan, Gerard Kearns, Peter Mullan, Shaun Dooley, Tony Pitts, Lisa Howard, Chris Walker. Viewed on DVD.