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Author Topic: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)  (Read 111690 times)

Junior

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #700 on: October 31, 2017, 01:28:58 PM »
Picnic at Hanging Rock

I picked this movie for Jeff's month because (1) I own it and it's therefore part of my Watch All the Things marathon, (2) It has a reputation as a semi-horror film, and (3) I really love some of Peter Weir's later work, particularly Master and Commander and The Truman Show. What's so surprising, then, about this movie is that it's both scarier and way less of a horror film than I expected, and it is quite different from his testosterone fueled films that I admire so much. Picnic at Hanging Rock is a strange outback-gothic film that I can see revisiting as I get older and wiser.

When three girls and their teacher disappear while on an afternoon picnic at a strange rock formation, their classmates, caretakers, and fellow-townspeople start to go a little crazy in their attempts to deal with the situation. What secrets did the girls share with each other? What danger did some young guys (one upper class and one lower) pose to them? Did Australia's notoriously dangerous wildlife have anything to do with their disappearance? And what happens to an ordered society when something unexplainable happens? The last is the only question that is answered in the film. Fans of The Leftovers will see quite a bit of similarity here, with a bit more emphasis in this film on the environmental horror than the show's suburban terror. The scenes before the girls disappear are filled with a kind of quiet tension that slowly tightens as they venture further into the wilderness. By the time they walk off screen, the bass is blasting and the geography is discombobulating. There's an overwhelming sense of something happening, but the film never explains what that thing is.

What does happen is an exploration of the societal decay that occurs when order is disrupted. There are a few instances of the girls seeing other people out on a similar picnic before they disappear. These people are almost always trying to live their regular lives out in the harsh wilderness. They'll have big heavy furniture and opulent food. Here Weir, working off a script adapted from Joan Lindsay's novel of the same name, highlights the absurdity of trying to live in such an inhospitable place. Even the distinctions between social classes break down in the outback. This absurdity permeates the ordered boarding school and town and soon draconian punishments abound, among foolish rescue expeditions and a lot of alcohol consumption.

There are no jump scares in Picnic at Hanging Rock, not one frightening image in the film. But there is a profound sense of atmosphere and uncanniness. All it takes is a push to knock everything out of whack. Although there aren't any castles or ghosts, this is an Australian Outback gothic of the highest degree. It's not as heightened as something like Wake in Fright, but it's just as compelling.

A-.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #701 on: October 31, 2017, 04:11:39 PM »
I would have bet money you had seen and loved this film before. Good thing I'm not a betting man.

Junior

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #702 on: October 31, 2017, 08:37:09 PM »
You'd have been half right. I started watching a crappy quality version a few years back but decided to wait until I got my hands on a better version and was in a better mood for it. It's a very Junior movie for sure.
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Sandy

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #703 on: November 01, 2017, 12:27:58 AM »
Phoenix



"Speak low if you speak love."  -- Don Pedro, Much Ado About Nothing

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What were you saying? ...So low, it's practically inaudible, the love expressed here is only seen by me and only because I'm prone to lip reading and am paying attention. The recipients though, are oblivious and in need of observational skills. When someone nurses you back to health and says, "come with me to a better place," she's saying something loud and clear, if only you tune into the frequency. If someone knows your special place and willingly mimics a past love's every move, you don't need words to interpret what she is trying to say. Yet both "someones" quiet pleas are trepidatious for good reason. When reciprocation is a poor prospect, hushed tones may be the only judicious option.

« Last Edit: November 01, 2017, 11:56:43 PM by Sandy »

oldkid

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #704 on: November 01, 2017, 03:24:16 AM »
Thank you, Jeff, for your wonderful, insightful, funny films!  Here's your Top 100

And here's a list of your reviews:

Bondo- A Simple Plan
Bondo- Pootie Tang
chardy999- 3 Women
DarkeningHumour- Let the Right One In
DarkeningHumour- Shaun of the Dead
Dave the Necrobumper- Thief
Junior- Picnic at Hanging Rock
KnockedOutLoaded- Le Bonheur
Martin Teller- Toni Erdmann
oldkid- Dirty Work
1SO- Pooty Tang
1SO- Dirty Work
PeacefulAnarchy- Wayne's World
PeacefulAnarchy- A Blackadder's Christmas Carol
PeacefulAnarchy- Computer Chess
pixote- The Hunt
pixote- Force Majeure
pixote- Le Bonheur
Sandy- Rosemary's Baby
Sandy- Le Bonheur
Sandy- Punch Drunk Love
Sandy- Shaun of the Dead
Sandy- Phoenix
ses- The Last Picture Show
Teproc- Let the Right One In

As usual, folks are more than welcome to add some more and I'll add their reviews to this list.

This month is DarkeningHumour's turn!  Rejoice!  I said, rejoice! 
Top 100  The same top 100 on Letterboxd, if you like that kind of thing
« Last Edit: November 02, 2017, 03:23:47 PM by oldkid »
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #705 on: November 01, 2017, 03:36:32 AM »
Now that I think about it, this is a good time to rewatch Shaun of the Dead.
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Bondo

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #706 on: November 01, 2017, 07:20:08 AM »
For DH there are three options:
Lady Vengeance
The Chorus
Your Name

Your Name is the obvious one as I'm a big fan of Shinkai, and it comes out on DVD this month. I'll try for The Chorus but it is on very long wait so who knows. Lady Vengeance is at the library so I'll probably try, though I'm not a fan of that series otherwise.

Junior

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #707 on: November 01, 2017, 07:27:36 AM »
This might be the month for me to visit my old friend Larry.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #708 on: November 01, 2017, 07:31:10 AM »
Bondo, have you watched all the other movies or is that a shortlist of titles you want to watch? Whatever it might be worth, I think all chapters in the Revenge Trilogy are quite different from each other.

Junior, I feel like I should get that reference.
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Junior

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Re: The Top 100 Club (Episode III)
« Reply #709 on: November 01, 2017, 08:13:10 AM »
It's ok, he's from (or should I say "of") a different country.
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