YIKES! This movie has cannibalism?

No, not cannibalism. Just the brutality that comes when someone is convinced they are superior to everyone else.

I'm confused.

All of the promo for this movie doesn't really show any of the on-screen dialogue. All of the "about the movie" stuff on HBO is done in English, including interviews with the director and the little girl.

For some reason, though, I thought the movie was in Spanish with subtitles. Or is it in English?

I'm confused.

All of the promo for this movie doesn't really show any of the on-screen dialogue. All of the "about the movie" stuff on HBO is done in English, including interviews with the director and the little girl.

For some reason, though, I thought the movie was in Spanish with subtitles. Or is it in English?

Spanish with subtitles.

I'm going to a screening of this next Wednesday. I know very little about it other than it's a fairy tale for adults but as soon as I saw Guillermo del Torro I was all in.

http://www.jasonfaust.com/gold_globe/

If anyone wants to go.

Discover the best of new foreign films with the five foreign language nominees for the 64th Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the Aero Theatre

Invited guests include: Pedro Almodovar, Guillermo del Toro, Clint Eastwood,
Mel Gibson, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck



Friday, January 12 · 7:30 PM at the Aero Theatre
Double Feature


The Aero
1328 Montana Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Saw PL last night--not at the theater though--but on a promo dvd, so I had to put up with that "DO NOT COPY" message across the screen every 15 minutes or so. The movie, however, was compelling enough for me to forget about the promo warnings 30 minutes or so into the story.

Dual story going on: War movie (World War II, I believe), setting, Spain; and fairy tale movie framing the war story.

Very scary. Not for kids.

Yes, there is cannibalism. But what is cannibalism, really? If a dog eats a man, is this cannibalism? If a dog eats a dog, is this cannibalism? Is cannibalism restricted to humans? Depending on your answer, there may not be cannibalism in this movie. Heh, heh, heh.

Fairy story scary as is the war story; narrative describes fairy tale in typical fairy story telling, you know, "Once upon a time...." But then that damn war story keeps intruding, and those fairy tale creatures, well, you'll have to see for yourself. The ending melds the two stories together, but depending on your point of view, it is either a sad or happy ending. Heh, heh, heh.

Very gory/bloody movie, so be warned, but well worth a watch or two.

AC

P.S. Last week when I joined my brother to go see a movie, I recommended going to see this movie, but he said, "No, not a puppet movie." Boy, was he ever wrong.

I missed the screening because my wife came down with pneumonia. But I definitely am going to catch this still.

I missed the screening because my wife came down with pneumonia. But I definitely am going to catch this still.

May your wife get better soon. Cindy had bronchitis for months. I know where you're at.

The movie should be better on the big screen. I do want to watch it again at a theater before it gets yanked.

AC

P.S. Over here in Los Angeles, the movie is on a limited run, and only at a handful of art houses. I'm surprized the bigger theaters are not running it.

Wow! This film was brilliant.

I have to admit from the start that I wasn’t a huge fan Guillermo Del Toro’s previous effort, Hellboy. I liked the visual style and some of the characters and story, but overall it didn’t click for me. I also didn’t care much for Blade II. It was a visual effects overload and the story, even though I am a HUGE vampire fan, didn’t intrigue me much at all. I don’t know if I actually DISlike either of these movies, but I can’t say that I like them.

I DEFINITELY can’t say the same for Pan’s Labyrinth. I LOVED this movie. I hadn’t really heard much about it, but the previews looked visually awesome and it was getting pretty good reviews (though I didn’t actually read any of them). Still, something drew me towards this movie. I got the inkling to go see a movie after work today, and it was between Pan’s Labyrinth and Children of Men (which I hear is also excellent). I picked PL; I don’t know why. When the movie started, I was slightly disappointed that it was subtitled. I don’t mind subtitles, but I read slowly, so I sometimes feel that I am missing the visual part of the film to read the dialogue. Thankfully, there isn’t a lot of dialogue, or at least not long bits of dialogue.

This is a faerie tale, in the true sense. I’m no expert. I’ve never actually read any Grimm tales, but I know they aren’t all bright and happy like the Disney version portray them to be. PL is dark. It is gloomy. But despite that it is very vibrant. The visuals and effects/costumes are beautifully menacing, and yet they don’t look like they are created or pull you out of the experience at all. Quite the opposite, they seem to draw you in and feel quite natural.

I don’t want to give away much of the movie because I was fooled as to the path this film took. It is the story of a young girl named Ofelia in war-torn 1944 Spain. Her pregnant mother has remarried to a captain in the fascist Spanish army. Ofelia is an avid reader of faerie tales, presumably to take her mind off of the horrors of war which surround her. In her new home in the countryside, she herself becomes drawn into a faerie tale of her own.

As I said, this isn’t your Disney faerie tale. It is quite graphic and disturbing and violent. And tragic. There were a few instances in which I was cringing from the graphicness of the violence (yet no gore). One scene in particular was quite frightening. I fear that saying any more will give too much away.

When the ending came and I realized what I had just seen I was stunned. It was beautiful … and brilliant. It all made sense. Well, almost all; I have to look up some information on mandrake root. I left the theater completely satisfied with this movie and actually recommended it to a couple who were having doubts as to whether they would like it.

And yet one thing bothered me: I can’t see an American filmmaker or studio having the guts to make a film like this.

I just saw "Pan's Labrynith." I was not as blown away by it as it seems others have been. I liked it, without a doubt. It's imaginative and unique. It's a war film infused by a child's experience of the loss of control, confusion, fear and horror that fighting engenders. Add to that a mother in distress and a stepfather so cruel that even his chest hair seems malicious and it's no wonder the bright and creative little heroine must turn to her imagination to survive. And survive she does in her way.

It's a visually stunning film. The creatures are brilliantly crafted and seemed to have burst out of Del Toro's feverish thoughts onto the screen. He deserves whatever honors are bestowed on him.

I was particularly entranced by the wonderful use of the mandrake root that features so prominently in the Harry Potter books.