http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 195• 43
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wraiths clad in black overcoats, their existen
tial experiments splintering a city shrouded in
shadows. And, at the core of it all, a dark love
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Tarkovsky – whose unsettling imagery, sug
gests Alex Proyas, served as inspiration for his
#@QJ "HSX(1998) – would certainly be pleased.
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dental death on the set of Proyas’3GD "QNV
(1994)^1 still but a recent memory, this twisted,
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sell. But, twenty years on,#@QJ "HSXhas built
a reputation among a horde of cult fans as
a fascinatingly elusive, strange noir puzzle.
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WKH ĺOP LV D ZKLUOLJLJ RI WUDQVPXWDEOH EXLOGLQJV- miniatures designed by Patrick Tatopoulos,
SPOTLIGHT ON
GENRE FILMALEXPROYAS’DARK CITY
TWODECADESONTACKLING A RANGE OF METAPHYSI-
CAL THEMES AND RIDDLED WITH
ARTISTIC REFERENCES, THE HAUNTING
AUSTRALIAN–US CO-PRODUCTION
DARK CITYHAS GONE ON TO ATTAIN
CULT STATUS IN THE YEARS SINCE ITS
RELEASE. IN CONVERSATION WITH
WRITER/DIRECTOR ALEX PROYAS,
JOHN CATANIADELVES INTO THE GEN-
ESIS OF THIS VISUALLY RICH SCI-FI NOIR
AND DISCUSSES THE FILM’S LEGACY AS
IT MARKS ITS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY.