Category Archives: filmmaking

What makes a film ‘too bleak’?

By Hugo | Published: January 11, 2010
One of the arguments recently levelled against Australian films is that they tend to be too bleak or too miserable (Last Ride, Beautiful Kate, Blessed, etc.). But many of the greatest films ever made are incredibly dark to the point you might label them ‘bleak’ or ‘miserable’. So what makes a film ‘too bleak’? I don’t really [...]
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Scary Face

By Hugo | Published: January 1, 2010
In the most terrifying moments in film, there is always a face The face of someone who shouldn’t be there. (Bob, at the end of the bed in ‘Twin Peaks’) The face of the dead. (The girl in the jar of formaldehyde in ‘The Kingdom’) The face of the old. (The old woman in the veil in ‘The [...]
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Incongruous Detail

By Hugo | Published: December 13, 2009
Like the magician’s left hand… Three Colours Blue: A beach ball rolls out of the crashed car, across the road and onto a field. The Limits of Control: Two men carry a bathtub across the piazza. The Mirror: The encounter with the doctor; the fence breaking, the locked briefcase, the wind rustling through the bushes as he walks [...]
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