2. The Modern City
Mystery films are oftenest in modern urban cities going
back to the time of film noirs, when these films
reflected the fears and insecurities of a post war world.
Too this day mystery films play are worries about the
modern films, whether they be in the politic world or in
our very own lives, mystery films play our sneaking
suspicion that just under the surface there’s something
dark and evil lurking there. The cities themselves often
feel like dystopias which with a film like Blade Runner is
very much the case; the dark and dirty, the glittering
lights of billboards and skyscrapers contrasting with the
griminess of the world the people below live in. For my
film I want to create the same sense of mood of gloom
that films like Enemy and Mulholland Drive by filming
the modern industrial city as if it were a desolate
dystopia.
3. Questionable Protagonist
Despite almost always being from the
perspective of one main character mystery
films often feature main protagonists who we
struggle to understand and often suspect to be
up to something. This reflects the feeling
within us not only of mis-trust of others but
even of ourselves and our own memories and
actions. In a film like Enemy the main
protagonist finds a doppelganger of himself,
making us question if this is really happening
or it’s just an expressionist point of view of the
main character losing his sense of reality. In my
film the main protagonist will be of
questionable mind-set
