Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 (2009)

A team of investigators attempt to stop a serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper from claiming his next victim, but uncover something far more terrifying.

Director:

James Marsh

Writers:

Tony Grisoni (screenplay), David Peace (novel)

Stars:

Warren Clarke, Paddy Considine, James Fox

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warren Clarke	...	Bill Molloy
Paddy Considine	...	Peter Hunter
James Fox	...	Philip Evans
David Calder	...	Sir John Marsden
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Michael Warren
Ron Cook	...	Clement Smith
Maxine Peake	...	Helen Marshall
Tony Pitts	...	John Nolan
Jim Carter	...	Harold Angus
David Morrissey	...	Maurice Jobson
Eddie Marsan	...	Jack Whitehead
Sean Harris	...	Bob Craven
Tony Mooney	...	Tommy Douglas
Shaun Dooley	...	Dick Alderman
Kenneth Oxtoby	...	Hotel Receptionist (as Ken Oxtoby)

Storyline

With a serial killer claiming victim 13 and rumors of corruption in their force, the West Yorkshire cops are told to cooperate with a team from outside - Peter Hunter and two hand-picked associates. Hunter gets little help but plunges ahead, discovering that one of the 13 victims may have a different killer. This part of the investigation leads to late-night calls, another murder, and bureaucratic moves to push Hunter aside: he may be getting close, not to the serial killer but to bad apples in the force. Christmas approaches.

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Plot Keywords:

men's room | serial killer | yorkshire | christmas | murder | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Maxine Peake was cast when two previous choices dropped out.

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Goofs

In an early flashback to the Karachi Club investigation, Hunter identifies some long, bottle-necked cartridge cases as coming from an MP5. The MP5 fires 9mm rounds, which are shorter and have straight sides.

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Quotes

Peter Hunter: You don't like the police much, do you?
Martin Laws: No love lost, no.
Peter Hunter: So when someone kicks down your front door, kills the dog and rapes the wife, who you gonna call?
Martin Laws: Well it certainly wouldn't be the West Yorkshire Police - they'd already *be* in there, wouldn't they!

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Russell Brand/Chris Brown (2011)

User Reviews

Challenging but brilliant material

The second film in the Red-Riding trilogy is another haunting almost hallucinatory tale of revenge and justice. Paddy Considine is excellent as the slightly cerebral and introspective officer assigned to review the failing investigation into the Yorkshire ripper, and the whole cast give performances of a very high class. The shocking corruption of the Yorkshire police revealed in the first film now intertwines into the real life history of the ripper's crimes and the bumbling investigation which was still fixated on the (hoax) tapes and letters in a fascinating but terrifying way.

It feels like a lot of material is woven into the film which expects you to pay attention and work stuff out. Having said this I found the film easy to watch, it didn't drag at all but like many great films it requires you to think a little. I really will need to see it a second time to try and piece together all of the threads, this is dense and exciting storytelling - perhaps not for everybody but hopefully this will find the audience it deserves.

Some say that the corrupt police story is too fantastic, but we know for a fact that some people were fitted up (via beatings and falsifying/withholding evidence by the police) for major crimes during this period (Birmingham Six, Guildford Four etc.) and that some police such as the Vice squad in London were running a very lucrative protection racket in Soho with senior officers (DCS) directly involved. Without giving away the plot the story here only goes slightly further and seems 'believable enough' to me.

Although essentially produced as 'TV Movies' the first two films (and I expect the 3rd to be the same) have been of a higher standard than about 95% of film releases, I strongly urge anyone who likes intelligent crime noir to see these films if you get the chance.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980

Filming Locations:

Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,526, 7 February 2010

Gross USA:

$148,826

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Film, Lipsync Productions, Revolution Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1