Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Aaron A — 19 Jul 2011

"There's some questions got answers and some haven't.".

Synopsis: To celebrate Valentine's Day, teachers at an austere Australian boarding school take a group of students on an outing to the mysterious Hanging Rock. Soon after their arrival, the headmistress and three girls go exploring and mysteriously disappear.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a calculated endeavor, taking it's sweet time, and within this slow-pace, Peter Weir finds a truly captivating way to tell his tale. It's a mystery, and director Weir realizes that the things we don't understand, we generally have an uneasiness about. Thus the eery atmosphere greatly contribute along with it's calculated pace in achieving a feeling of horror and suspense.

Although when I say this is a mystery, I do not mean this in the traditional terms. As I said before, this is a relatively slow-paced film, and is almost entirely unlike any thriller currently available (i'v yet to see one like it). Example, Picnic is filmed and edited more like a straight drama, and provides no concrete explanation to the girls' disappearance. Although, it's disambiguation is probably a major factor of the strength of it's impact.

Slow and haunting, Picnic at Hanging Rock is a mystery that will have you drooling for answers (quite literally).