Loving the labyrinth
I have a prediction. By the year 2012, movie DVDs will come out 6 months before their cinema release. Based on current trends. It seems that there's already barely any time between a film appearing at the multiplex and appearing at the Megastore.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't get to go to the cinema as much as I'd like, so I rely on DVD releases a lot more these days.
One film I missed on it's cinema release was Pan's Labyrinth, so I eagerly snapped it up when it appeared on DVD, and watched it this week.
It's absolutely stunning. By far the best film I've seen in ages. My spoof (it's a pan... geddit!?!!?) really doesn't do it justice!
The film starts with a young girl, Ofelia, finding a ancient statue in the wilds of 1940's Spain. My first thoughts were this is like a live-action Spirited Away, and that turned out to be reasonably accurate analogy. Guilliermo Del Toro seems to have the same masterful feel for fantasy and fairy tales as Hayao Miyazaki. He realises that good fairy tales are scary. His eye for detail is also very Miyazaki-esque, the sets for both the real and fantasy worlds are fantastically rich and intricate. If Studio Ghibli made live action, they'd make films that looked like Pan's Labyrinth.
I was also reminded of another director, Pedro Almodóvar. Like his fellow spaniard, Del Toro seems to have an innate understanding of how to portray strong female characters. Even the "weak" character of Ofelia's mother, wearily resigned to be the complaint wife of the monstrous Captain Vidal, is portrayed in a sympathetic way.
If you've not done so already, beg borrow or steal Pan's Labyrinth! It's left me with a desperate urge to see Del Toro's other Spanish fantasy films. I'm off to steal Sophie's box set!
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't get to go to the cinema as much as I'd like, so I rely on DVD releases a lot more these days.
One film I missed on it's cinema release was Pan's Labyrinth, so I eagerly snapped it up when it appeared on DVD, and watched it this week.
It's absolutely stunning. By far the best film I've seen in ages. My spoof (it's a pan... geddit!?!!?) really doesn't do it justice!
The film starts with a young girl, Ofelia, finding a ancient statue in the wilds of 1940's Spain. My first thoughts were this is like a live-action Spirited Away, and that turned out to be reasonably accurate analogy. Guilliermo Del Toro seems to have the same masterful feel for fantasy and fairy tales as Hayao Miyazaki. He realises that good fairy tales are scary. His eye for detail is also very Miyazaki-esque, the sets for both the real and fantasy worlds are fantastically rich and intricate. If Studio Ghibli made live action, they'd make films that looked like Pan's Labyrinth.
I was also reminded of another director, Pedro Almodóvar. Like his fellow spaniard, Del Toro seems to have an innate understanding of how to portray strong female characters. Even the "weak" character of Ofelia's mother, wearily resigned to be the complaint wife of the monstrous Captain Vidal, is portrayed in a sympathetic way.
If you've not done so already, beg borrow or steal Pan's Labyrinth! It's left me with a desperate urge to see Del Toro's other Spanish fantasy films. I'm off to steal Sophie's box set!
Labels: movies
Not only a visual feast, but an excellent fairy tale, as well. It's really quite astonishing.
I know I'll be grabbing the DVD when it comes out here.
Carolyn Ann
Get down to HMV and pick up a copy of Cronos, today: I've seen it there for about £5.
Good as I've been told it is, I might give Pan's Labyrinth a miss as the whole Franco/Civil War stuff is a bit dark for my current metal state.
I seem to recall Cronos was good, if a bit odd though.
Oh, I saw it just a few weeks ago!. It just seemed like summer... And it seemed like a long time ago. Perception=reality? :-)
Carolyn Ann
My favourite is The Devil's Backbone, which is a counterpart to Pan's Labyrinth in many ways.
Also worth a look are Del Toro's Hollywood films, which he tends to alternate (for artistic as well as financial purposes, I suspect) with his more personal works. These include the superb Mimic, the boisterous Hellboy and the very underrated Blade 2.
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