MovieChat Forums > Dark City (1998) Discussion > Any mention of "City of Lost Children"?

Any mention of "City of Lost Children"?

posted 9 years ago by rooprect
3 replies | jump to latest

Great film, I just watched the Blu-ray Director's Cut. One thing I'm wondering is that this film borrowed so heavily from the French "City of Lost Children" (1995); did Alex Proyas ever mention this connection?

I watched all the bonus documentaries (haven't listened to the commentaries yet), and I was surprised that there was no mention at all. Proyas talked about Metropolis, M and (his own) The Crow as stylistic influences. Other production crew mentioned Caligari, Blade Runner and a few others, but I didn't catch any nod toward City of Lost Children.

In one scene in Dark City in the underground hideout, a Stranger talks about how the strays wander around "like... LOST CHILDREN" with practically a wink and a rimshot. The visual tribute is so clear, and yet no mention on the documentaries. I'm going to listen to the commentaries eventually, but I was wondering if someone had already heard Proyas mention City of Lost Children or directors Jeunet/Caro. Or even Terry Gilliam and "Brazil" (which itself influenced City of Lost Children).

If you haven't seen COLC, here's just one example. There are tons more, you'd have to watch both movies before you get it. but this is what I could find pictures of on the web.

COLC's bad guy (Cyclops) underground hideout:
https://cinemachaat.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/cyclops-gabriel-marie.png

DC's bad guy (Strangers) underground hideout:
http://media.theiapolis.com/d4/hK0/i1VIH/k4/l1W3L/wZK/dark-city.jpg

[–] virgiltx 9 years ago

I've watched with all three commentaries, and I recall one of them mentioning City of Lost Children, a film which I'm familiar with.
My guess is that it was the Roger Ebert commentary.

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[–] rooprect 9 years ago

Hey thanks, virgiltx. Odd that Proyas himself didn't mention it, he mentioned many others. Unless somehow the similarities were in fact a total coincidence. I dunno, if you've seen them both, what do you think? Other scenes that strike me as too similar to be coincidence: Dark City near the end, the rowboat in soupy green water canal scene, so much like many rowboat (and soupy green water canal) scenes in Lost Children. The whole retro 1940s setting & costume design with steampunk touches like those wacky hypo needles, the idea of the "collective" bad guys.

I really love it when directors make deliberate homages to other films, for example a film I recently saw "Night Train" was practically a carbon copy of Hitchcock and the director was proud to admit it. To me that makes the experience even more fun.

[–] virgiltx 9 years ago

Thinking back to TCOLC, what comes to mind is not only the noir steampunk, but also the theme--the villain in TCOLC was trying to probe the kidnapped children's minds to steal their dreams, because he couldn't dream. The strangers are studying our consciousness, or souls, in Dark City, I think because they had some deficiency or uncertainty about their own souls.

____________________
The story is king.