This week’s MSN DVD column hopes to draw some attention to the “Red Riding” trilogy, which is going straight to video in Canada this week.
That’s kind of shameful, really; the three features (produced for the UK’s Channel Four) constitute one epic theatrical experience — or at least they did in the U.S. earlier this year. They should have been given the same shot at becoming an art-house sensation here.
Sadly, Alliance chose to go with the DVD route, probably because selling three separate titles to consumers (and the few remaining video stores) is far more lucrative than any art-house run might have been. Of course, that art-house run wouldn’t necessarily have taken any revenue away from the DVD release; in fact, the theatrical publicity surely would have helped raise awareness for the title in the right corners. Whaddaya gonna do, right?
It occurs to me that this is precisely the sort of thing that shiny new TIFF venue should be doing — the three films could be staggered to run daily within an hour of one another, with breaks strategically timed so you could run down to grab a snack in the canteen. Maybe there’ll be a revival down the road.
In the meantime, just see them. They’re solid, even if Anand Tucker’s final chapter buggers up the cumulative impact.
Does this mean Alliance isn’t at least putting it out on Blu-ray? (IFC was kind enough to send me the stateside BD.)
Anand Tucker never met a scene he couldn’t direct into florid excess, did he?
Alliance had originally intended to release each of the 3 teleplays separately, at around $26.95 SRP, but they seem to have scrapped that poorly conceived release and will mirror the U.S. release of one set featuring all three films.
IFC just released the trilogy on DVD and BR, with the extras on a standard DVD disc for both. No word on whether Alliance’s own trilogy will replicate the extras, but their own DVD and BR trilogy sets will street Oct. 19.
I often feel like the only film snob in existence who thinks that Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy stinks.