The trick is:
- adjust the global brightness in exposure module
- prepare a filmic curve with grey = 18%, and adjust black and white to input (don’t spend too much time tweaking)
- build a sinus in tone equalizer, centered in -4EV, then use the mask exposure compensation to drive the brightening/darkening pivot. I got too lazy to adjust the amplitude of the sinus (set to 1.5 EV), so I just used a 50% opacity to soften, instead of re-adjusting every slider.
- raise the local contrast quite a lot (150%). Note that, on this pic, because the grey point wis adjusted before filmic, local contrast seemed to behave better before filmic in the pipe (default order is after).
- enjoy.