These two films have two things in common: Both are based in Australia and both are set in or around 1900.That's where the comparisons end. Because one (Picnic at Hanging Rock) is vastly interesting and extremely well made. The other (My Brilliant Career) is about as listless, uninspiring and dumb as a film can come.
The latter is basically a half-done Jane Austen novel set in the outback, apparently about female liberation. Basically, our heroine just refuses to marry. A big deal, I'm sure, but not like signing an amendment or starting a revolution.
Picnic at Hanging Rock is, on the other hand, fantastic. At the onset, there's an unsettling tone set by Peter Weir. It is Weir's second full-length feature. He'd later go on to do Dead Poet's Society, The Truman Show, Witness and other big-budget asskicks.
Then the film almost dumps the viewer into this deep crevass and doesn't let up. It's spooky and eerie. Most scary is that there isn't a resolution. Just a nibble and hope that there's some kind of explanation. There is no explanation and when things are wrapped in the neat bow, it drives us bananas.
So good, I'd almost buy it.
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