Little Red Riding Hood

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.

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.

If you're titillated by the gothic possibilities of The Fairytale but find Powell and Pressburger too leaden or Tim Burton too twee, then this stellar example of short-filmmaking will knock you sideways. Exactingly executed from first frame to last, this short reinterprets the Riding-Hood story along the lines of an ancient French variant and blows the lid off the long-repressed sexual subtext. Ricci is caught at (I hope not) the peak of her dark craft, as an archetype of knowing femininity; Bourtasenkov, in beautiful counterpoint of form, dances (yes, literally) an aching helplessness. Quentin Crisp's delivery of the witty script is a dry delight, and the entire piece is constructed so perfectly alongside Debussy's 'Afternoon of a Fawn' that Allegro Non Troppo won't ever quite satisfy you again. See this masterpiece and never forget it.

This is the best short film I have seen to date. It tells the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood... with a twist. Sure Granny gets eaten and so and so forth, but the sexual overtones, the humor, and especially the music, DeBussys Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, made this a great short flick worthy of your attention.

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.