Pan's Labyrinth
polycounter lvl 18
Just got back from what was easily the best film of the year, Pan's Labyrinth (I think it's technically a 2006 release, but maybe not).
I don't want to spoil anything, but it's beautiful, horrific, and moving all at once- a rare movie indeed. Go out and see it by all means. But for those with kids, do not believe the trailers, this isn't the Dark Crystal or something. It is a really graphic and often times brutal movie.
Two thumbs waaay up. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
I don't want to spoil anything, but it's beautiful, horrific, and moving all at once- a rare movie indeed. Go out and see it by all means. But for those with kids, do not believe the trailers, this isn't the Dark Crystal or something. It is a really graphic and often times brutal movie.
Two thumbs waaay up. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
Replies
Marcus Dublin
Artist - Kaos Studios
Seeing it again tonight.
Perhaps it was what some touched on in this thread already about expectations being different or perhaps it was because I just saw Children of Men and loved it so much.
Meh.
on a side note its a fucking shame that with movies like this and children of men in theaters now.. you have crap like "night at the museum" and "stomp the yard" making all the money
*SPOILERS*
Her eating the grapes really irked me. It seemed out of character, and there was a distinct lack of remorse over causing the grizzly deaths of the fairy creatures she loved so much.
Evil el capitan's knife wounds would have caused him an awful lot more trouble than they did (and darn, grizzly though his death was, I wished it was slower).
Very sad though the ending was, I really liked the concept that If time allows, you get to construct a nice little dream concept of a safe place to go to, particularly given that I dont believe in an afterlife. Some of the concepts in the film reminded me of Jacobs ladder. Fantastic stuff.
I was irked by the grapes too, but then I began to see why.
*SPOILERS ABOUND!*
The whole idea of the underground world, the characters, etc. were a parallel for the civil war that was going on at the time with the rise of fascism in Spain.
Remember when the Captain refers to his unborn son at dinner living in the new, wonderful world he would help create? The means by which that was achieved was by folks like him following blindly the orders of the fascist dictators. Ofelia is told by the faun to do exactly as he says, and she will be granted access to this strange new, wonderful world.
Ofelia wants change, sure, but at some point she decides to have change and think freely as well. in the scene you're referring to she not only disobeys, but chooses a different lock box than the one the faun's minions tell her to open. She is thinking on her own free will, deciding her future, the opposite of what a fascist dictator would want any citizen to do (You could even go a step further and notice that her decisions are marked with red, the color of the rebel's propaganda books. Note the heavy use of red in the end scene).
At the very end she ultimately chooses to not kill the innocent for the new world, something Mercedes suggested to her brother would never happen when she points out that killing only leads to more killing.
Man, I loved this film. I can't wait to buy the dvd.
One thing that confused me historically whilst watching is that most of the reviews I read said it was set during the Spanish civil war. I thought the Spanish civil war was in 1936 and only lasted a couple of years, and yet this was set in '44. But I guess there were uprisings happening against Franco brought on by WW2.
This movie made me just stick 'The Devil's Backbone' at the top of my Netflix queue. Have you seen it?
That said, i will not be watching this movie again. I don't need to be reminded of the evils of humanity and its invisible affects on children.
I'm with daz, i wanted his death to be much longer, this coming from the guy who only watched two deaths, the farmers and the bad guys. It was yet another point made though, there is nothing that could have been done to make him pay for what he did to others.
i don't get what you mean the director made sure no one knew what they were getting into with seeing the movie?
i hate Movies that tell you the whole movie in the trailer, i would much rather be suprised,, and i was pleasently suprised,, i was glad that it wasnt a complete fantasy fairy tale movie.
Daz i saw Devils backbone back a year or so ago, and really enjoyed it,, Cronos, was pretty good also, but not as good as DB
I've already seen it, mind you, but it deserves my money.
It's great too, since I speak spanish, I don't have to read subtitles for once.
Didn't expect it to be quite so grizzly, but I thought it was great anyway. Very moving in parts.
Pale man is probably one of the most creepy things I have seen in a long time.
Can't wait for Hellboy 2.
[ QUOTE ]
This movie made me just stick 'The Devil's Backbone' at the top of my Netflix queue. Have you seen it?
[/ QUOTE ]I've seen it and would reccomend it to anyone who enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth. The two films have quite a lot of thematic and stylistic similarities, both using elements of fantasy to underscore stories about the Spanish Civil War as seen through the eyes of children.
I base my likes on movies by the thrill or chills they give me. This movie did'nt excite me at any point, and the gore was pretty boring to an avid horrer movie watcher. I hate to be so negative, but it just had so much unreached potential. I also agree about the grapes, baffled me.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7000935
The actor that played the Faun and the Pale man (same fella) did a great job. My favourite scene out of the entire flick was the Pale mans scene, very scary.
If you check out the official site for the movie theres some behind the scenes stuff on the different characters. It's worth a look to those anyone interested.
http://www.panslabyrinth.com/
Just got back from seeing this flick and I was completely shocked how good it was. I can see how such a smaller audience would pull this one in but for me I can't stop thinking about it.
nitzmoff, that was spot on man! I loved the way you worded that and it really enlightened the whole story to a new level with me.
The art was amazing, the story was brutal, and hearing Del Toro describe the characterization in that interview just really wrapped it all up for me. SEE THIS MOVIE!