MovieChat Forums > Strangerland (2015) Discussion > Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Picnic at Hanging Rock.


Just saw this at Sydney Film Festival. Reminded me almost too much of Picnic at Hanging Rock both thematically and stylistically.

The whole idea of some kids being "taken" by the land or whatever, the music and those sweeping shots of the Australian landscape. Not a bad film though.

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

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I have not seen Strangerland yet but you might have a Point and it might be interesting to see how both films tackle this theme, seeing how one is set in a period Girls School and the other in a present Family.

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YES! Again, not that there is anything wrong with that..but my HUGE problem is that it's one of those movies where at least half the dialogue is in hushed tones/whispers and I have NO idea what was being said..I really wanted to like this but feel like it missed..acting great, cinematography great..so gonna blame it on script development and direction for not living up to potential..

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I was thinking off Picnic at Hanging Rock too, however it felt a bit too much of an afterthought, they should have developed that theme more, if we were supposed to believe the whole "the land took her" storyline. The ending was a bit too open, and generally plot development was too slow in the wrong places. It did manage to catch my interest until the ending however.

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I haven't seen this movie yet, but Picnic at Hanging Rock was actually based on a book, which in turn had the end chapter removed. The final chapter was released some years later (and after the movie adaptation) and it did go into a sort of 'time travel' scenario. I believe you can find that last chapter online.

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Yep, got the sense they were going for a contemporary version, but the script just wasn't up to par. The production obviously had to account for the tax incentives with all the scenery, so it drew on a lot of other Oz films at the time like Mystery Road etc. It was strongly influenced by True Detective as well which was still trendy then and there were very mild elements of cosmic horror, but the Farrant just couldn't pull everything together - too much melodrama, of which the horrendous acting didn't help.

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