MovieChat Forums > Picnic at Hanging Rock (1979) Discussion > Other eerie, haunting, patient, atmosphe...

Other eerie, haunting, patient, atmospheric films like this one?

posted 18 years ago by StrawDogBreeder
183 replies | jump to latest

The music, landscapes, and pacing of this film all contribute to its itching mystery at least as much as the plot itself. There's also something about the film (stock) itself that acts as a better medium for this kind of meditative piece. It's a work of art made on a higher quality canvas. Knowhattamean? In descibing its qualities and effects, though, I have to fight a tendency of drifting into abstract, snobbish descriptions. What are some other films that have some of these haunting, patient(?) qualities?

A few I have seen:

1. Solaris (Tarkovsky, not Soderbergh)
2. Stalker (also Tarkovsky)
3. (At least the first half of) The Black Stallion
4. Ring of Bright Water
5. Dead Man (sort of)

[–] sebbastiann 9 years ago

Also Wetherby by David Hare has a haunting quality. Great script as well.

[–] heelmaster2000 9 years ago

Try The Shout, its another Aussie flick, that is pretty original and creepy.

[–] eholzapfel26 9 years ago

I have to ask why so many people listed Deliverance on this thread?
What is mysterious or enigmatic about Deliverance? The four men don't disappear with no explanation. They're attacked by backwoods hillbillies, one is raped, but they turn the tables and kill their attackers. Since there's no way to prove the homicide was justified they decide to try to cover it up. How is that anyway similar to the surreal feel or unsolvable mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock?

[–] Degree7 9 years ago

There are a couple of films that come to mind specifically.

One that deals with the existential horror of everyday reality, and the clash of civilization vs nature, would be Todd Haynes's Safe.

Another that involves more the plot line of an unspeakable tragedy striking a small community, and how people come to terms with it, would be The Sweet Hereafter.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

[–] mkelley818 9 years ago

A Passage to India