really glad to hear you found it enjoyable! i haven't seen the picnic movie, but the description of it on wikipedia sounds incredible so i'll be sure to add it to my list.
honestly i think my resistance to a more vague ending is only in response to the idea of it starting in a mental hospital, which i feel is kind of intellectually lazy lol. in the 2015 interview the writer's description of his preferred premise sounds much closer to picnic at hanging rock, and they probably could have pulled that off just fine. i do agree that the coincidence is pretty implausible, though i feel like they could have made it work better if they'd allowed the movie to be a bit longer and filled in the gaps that force the viewer to really make connections or end up feeling like they're missing something. (i might also be a bit biased because the scene where mitzi is being set up to burn alive and he's STILL bickering with harry is so endearing to me XD i don't know how they would have been able to execute that scene or similar without a tangible antagonist....)
i do like the social commentary aspect with how sympathetic the movie is towards the antagonist, but again i can totally see how something more ambiguous could have been equally engaging! i showed this as the b-movie for a double feature with ken russell's the devils once, lmao, and it was really fun comparing the human cruelty showcased in both - and the endings did feel a little similar, so that was interesting.
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honestly i think my resistance to a more vague ending is only in response to the idea of it starting in a mental hospital, which i feel is kind of intellectually lazy lol. in the 2015 interview the writer's description of his preferred premise sounds much closer to picnic at hanging rock, and they probably could have pulled that off just fine. i do agree that the coincidence is pretty implausible, though i feel like they could have made it work better if they'd allowed the movie to be a bit longer and filled in the gaps that force the viewer to really make connections or end up feeling like they're missing something. (i might also be a bit biased because the scene where mitzi is being set up to burn alive and he's STILL bickering with harry is so endearing to me XD i don't know how they would have been able to execute that scene or similar without a tangible antagonist....)
i do like the social commentary aspect with how sympathetic the movie is towards the antagonist, but again i can totally see how something more ambiguous could have been equally engaging! i showed this as the b-movie for a double feature with ken russell's the devils once, lmao, and it was really fun comparing the human cruelty showcased in both - and the endings did feel a little similar, so that was interesting.