The year is 1974. Great Britain has pretty much (all but) cast off the whole mellow,groovy hippie glow of the late 1960's (and is pretty much unaware of the punk movement that is to envelope "merrie old England" within the next couple of years),unemployment is rampant & most folk are listening to the likes of Mott The Hoople,T-Rex,David Bowie,etc. A pedophile murderer,that is being called the Yorkshire Slasher has been terrorizing the citizens of Yorkshire for the past five years,and it's up to newby journalist,Eddie Dunford to get the facts on the who,what,when,where & especially the why on why young schoolgirls are being murdered. What he gets in the interim of uncovering information is far more than what he expected:police corruption,political graft (with deep ties to organized crime),and other nastiness. 'Red Riding 1974' (or as it is better known in the United Kingdom as 'Red Riding:In The Year Of Our Lord 1974')is the first part of a three part series,which itself is a powder keg of a "who dunnit" that will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what happens next (suggestion:hit the mens or ladies room before the film starts & avoid that jumbo soft drink,so that you won't have to miss out on anything,because you had to make a dash for the 'loo'). Julian Jarrold,who directed the superb 'Brideshead Revisited' & 'Becomming Jane',directs a very well paced thriller from a screenplay by Tony Grisoni,adapted from the celebrated novel by David Peace. Rob Hardy's,oh so fine cinematography goes for both gloss & grit, while Andrew Hulme's razor tight editing keeps the pace (and pulse)going. Andrew Gardfield plays journalist Eddie Dunford (who looks like he just stepped down from his other gig singing for Roxy Music),a young man who descends down a dark labyrinth where there is no escape. The rest of the cast is rounded out by the likes of David Morrissey, Warren Clarke,Jennifer Hennessy,Rachael Jane Allen,and others. I await the other two chapters with anticipation. Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains pervasive strong language,strong sexual content,nudity,violence,some of which is quite brutal & bloody,some rather lurid photographs that depict the Yorkshire ripper's dirty work on display,and much smoking & drinking of alcohol. Leave the little ones home for this one.
