Little Red Riding Hood

I must say this film is gorgeous. Contrasted with a divine line of mediums. Truly worth the search, especially for an independent film collector. Although its short it has what is needed to be brilliantly eye pleasing and beautiful. By all means possible, I say see it.

Not a moment nor a note is wasted in this little ditty shown two years ago at the Chicago Film Festival. As an English teacher, I have seen and read many versions of this tale and have used some for critical analysis in my classes, but this piece is something quite extraordinary (though not quite intended for small children). I long to possess it in my library and to show to everyone I know and meet its evocative imagery and disquieting premise: woman is not as vulnerable and naive as we are led to believe nor man so forceful and ugly. Debussy's work could not have been more aptly interpreted onto the screen. The cinematography is breathtaking.

This movie is just one of the greatest short films of all time. Dispite the fact that its only like 15min. Its still worth the long search for it. I had always thought that Ricci Would be a great Little Red Riding Hood with out knowing that she played LRRH, I knew I had To have this movie, I searched and I found it. Took a long time but absolutly worth the time.

As soon as Quentin Crisp begins the narration of this retelling of the Little Red Riding hood story, one knows that this is NOT to be the bowdlerized version that one heard as a child.

Somehow that dry aristocratic voice with its overtones of sophisticated debauchery fits this version of the story perfectly.

Here we see a story more like what must have originally been intended. But here also we see a "little girl" that is not the helpless maiden to be saved as in more current versions of the story.

Just as the narrative had an edgy "bent", the use of the music from "Afternoon of the Faun" leant an interesting perspective as well.

Overall a wonderful short. It's short films like this that keep me watching and hoping during a shorts program.

You know this is going to be different the moment it starts. Every step of the way you are surprised by the daring take on this classic tale, the mastery of the adaptation lies in the fact that nothing of the original story is changed on the surface, it's what's unspoken but suggested between the lines that turn the tale on its head. Beautifully shot in black and white, with Afternoon of the Faun playing in the background, it's a fairy tale for the grown ups.