There are two scenes in PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK that give it a dated 70s horror punch that pulls me out of the film’s artful mood. It’s something in the editing and the sound and yet I’m easily lulled back into the movie. When I saw the movie again I smiled like if I’d met up once more with someone who can’t help but burp in the middle of conversation. I warn you that these scenes are jarring and remind you that you’re watching an older film and I’d like to clarify that it’s okay.

Everything else about it is thoroughly modern.

In my personal experience I’ve met a few girls (one of them looking just like Miranda) who’ve wandered into my life like ghosts and then mysteriously disappeared. Whenever I watch this film I’m reminded of them, of how they came and went, and how inside I felt that they’d made that clear to me as if in dreams. My friends and I ask each other what happened to these girls and don’t we wonder.

Another movie that makes me feel that way is THE VIRGIN SUICIDES- a movie I bet Sofia Coppola made with “the rock” in mind. The world simply opens up and swallows some people whole and we’re left with nothing but our own curious minds to figure it all out. I can never forget the people that caught my eye and then vanished. Even the most beautiful angels can haunt us.