>>2971655I guess I'm biased, in a sense, since I hate it when black isn't black in films. Contrast is a relative game anyway, so you can have a dull image even with true black on there by putting the whites at like 75-80% instead of 95.
If you crunch things down towards the middle it won't look uncontrasty, it will just look like Log footage which is never good. Here's a still from The Conversation so you can see what i mean. It looks dull and depressing because the lights are dim, but the black level is realistic, not lifted.
More examples and a very good site in general for inspiration here:
https://film-grab.com/2010/08/26/the-conversation/ 