PicoBlog

Colors of Evil: Red is an impressive Polish mystery crime drama, in which a young prosecutor and a female judge team up to solve the grizzly murder of the latter’s teenage daughter.

The set-up is as follows: after a night on the town at the seaside, the body of a young woman, Monika, is found dead on a beach, with among other things, her lips cut off.

This is reminiscent of a similar murder seventeen years ago, and you know what, the guy who was convicted of the crime, has just been released from prison. 

Unfortunately, the man commits suicide right after his arrest. Case closed? No, to the young prosecutor, Leopold Bilski, it just means that the man must have been innocent and the real killer is still out there. This annoys his superior, but they let him continue. For now.

Monika’s mother Helena is so grief stricken that she and Leopold both want to solve the case. In this genre that means digging in the past, connecting that past with the present and uncovering dirty secrets, some found closer to home than others.

It’s an effective formula, if done right, and in this case it mostly is, save for some slightly confusing editing choices, such as Leopold asking someone about a nightclub after he’s already been there.

Part of the story is told in flashback and the violence is, at times, pretty gruesome, and frankly not for the faint of heart. But for some that may actually be a bonus.

Colors of Evil: Red is about power, corruption and lies, and as usual it goes all the way to the top, or at least to an important businessman called Kazar, who seems to be hiding in plain sight.

It’s about parents who don’t know what they are doing, let alone what their children are up to. It’s about a possible serial killer obsessed by women. And even if I couldn’t always suspend my disbelief as the twists and turns got darker and also more bizarro, it still worked for me as a portrait of pure, unadulterated evil.

The movie is based on the first book in a trilogy about evil by Polish writer Malgorzata Oliwia Sobczak, with the other colors being black and white.

Apart from fans of the book this movie will probably also appeal to people who enjoyed the Polish Harlan Coben adaptations or the recent Detective Forst serial killer series.

The book was adapted by Lukasz M. Maciejewski (who also co-wrote the gritty Polish grindhouse actioner Mother’s Day) and director Adrian Janek, who keeps the movie chugging along just nicely.

Rising star Jakub Gierszal (tv series Das Boot) is perfectly cast as Leopold, while Maja Ostaszewska (Schindler’s List) does some very heavy lifting as the bereaved mother.

Przemyslaw Bluszcz is quite convincing as sadistic gangster Kazar, but perhaps most impressive is Zofia Jastrzebska as the doomed Monika. It’s a demanding role, cause her character suffers a lot of abuse, and her acting is of the highest calibre.

The title Colors of Evil: Red almost is like a play on Krzysztof Kieslowski’s famous Three Colours trilogy, but this is not an arthouse film, but a very good genre movie.

So now we can only wait for the adaptations of the next two books in the trilogy!

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