Pan's Labyrinth

[Catherine Edwards]

It's been out in the UK for a while and it's been
getting various pundit's "best film of the year". I'm
going to see it tomorrow...

My favourite film of 2006 so far is probably Volver.  


--- Ya Sam <takoitov at hotmail.com> wrote:

> That's another film, besides Inland Empire, that I'm
> yearning to watch.
> 
> 
> >From: Dave Monroe <monropolitan at yahoo.com>
> >To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >Subject: Pan's Labyrinth
> >Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:52:03 -0800 (PST)
> >
> >December 29, 2006
> >MOVIE REVIEW | 'PAN'S LABYRINTH'
> >In Gloom of War, a Child's Paradise
> >By A.O. SCOTT
> >
> >Set in a dark Spanish forest in a very dark time —
> >1944, when Spain was still in the early stages of
> the
> >fascist nightmare from which the rest of Europe was
> >painfully starting to awaken — “Pan’s Labyrinth” is
> a
> >political fable in the guise of a fairy tale. Or
> maybe
> >it’s the other way around. Does the moral structure
> of
> >the children’s story — with its clearly marked
> poles
> >of good and evil, its narrative of dispossession
> and
> >vindication — illuminate the nature of
> authoritarian
> >rule? Or does the movie reveal fascism as a
> terrible
> >fairy tale brought to life?
> >
> >The brilliance of “Pan’s Labyrinth” is that its
> >current of imaginative energy runs both ways. If
> this
> >is magic realism, it is also the work of a real
> >magician. The director, Guillermo Del Toro,
> >unapologetically and unpretentiously swears
> allegiance
> >to a pop-fantasy tradition that encompasses comic
> >books, science fiction and horror movies, but
> fan-boy
> >pastiche is the last thing on his mind. He is also
> a
> >thoroughgoing cinephile, steeped in classical
> >technique and film history.
> >
> >This Mexican-born filmmaker’s English-language,
> >Hollywood genre movies — “Blade 2” (2002),
> “Hellboy”
> >(2004) and the ill-starred but interesting “Mimic”
> >(1997) — have a strangeness and intensity of
> feeling
> >that sets them apart from others of their kind. In
> his
> >recent Spanish-language films, “The Devil’s
> Backbone”
> >(2001) and this new one, he uses the feverish
> >inventiveness of a vulnerable child’s imagination
> as
> >the basis for his own utterly original, seamlessly
> >effective exploration of power, corruption and
> >resistance.
> >
> >“Pan’s Labyrinth” is his finest achievement so far
> and
> >a film that already, seven months after it was
> first
> >shown at the Cannes Film Festival, has the feel of
> >something permanent. Like his friend and colleague
> >Alfonso Cuarón, whose astonishing “Children of Men”
> >opened earlier this week, Mr. Del Toro is helping
> to
> >make the boundary separating pop from art, always
> >suspect, seem utterly obsolete.
> >
> >“Pan’s Labyrinth” is a swift and accessible
> >entertainment, blunt in its power and exquisite in
> its
> >effects. A child could grasp its moral insights
> >(though it is not a film I’d recommend for most
> >children), while all but the most cynical of adults
> >are likely to find themselves troubled to the point
> of
> >heartbreak by its dark, rich and emphatic emotions.
> >
> >The heroine is a girl named Ofelia, played by the
> >uncannily talented Ivana Baquero, who was 11 when
> the
> >film was made. Ofelia is the kind of child who
> eagerly
> >reads stories about fairies, princesses and magic
> >lands, longing to believe that what she reads is
> real.
> >Mr. Del Toro obliges her wish by conjuring, just
> >beyond the field of vision of the adults in
> Ofelia’s
> >life, a grotesque, enchanted netherworld governed
> by
> >the sometimes harsh rules of folk magic.
> >
> >That realm, in which Ofelia is thought to be a
> >long-lost princess, may exist only in her
> imagination.
> >Or maybe not: its ambiguous status is crucial to
> the
> >film’s coherence. Like the Japanese animator Hayao
> >Miyazaki, Mr. Del Toro is less interested in
> debunking
> >or explaining away the existence of magic than in
> >surveying the natural history of enchantment.
> >
> >The forest around the old mill where Ofelia and her
> >mother come to live is full of signs and portents:
> old
> >carved stones and half-buried, crumbling structures
> >that attest to a pre-modern, pre-Christian body of
> >lore and belief. In much of the West that ancient
> >magic survives in the form of bedtime stories and
> >superstitions, and these in turn, as Mr. Del Toro
> >evokes them, lead back through the maze of human
> >psychology into the profound mysteries of nature.
> >
> >Ofelia’s second reality — inhabited by a
> wide-browed
> >faun, a man whose eyes are in the palms of his
> hands
> >(both played by Doug Jones), a giant toad, some
> >mantislike insects and many other curious creatures
> —
> >can be a pretty scary place, and on her visits to
> it
> >the girl is, like many a fairy-tale heroine,
> subjected
> >to various challenges and ordeals. Still, this
> vivid
> >world of fairies offers her an escape from the
> >oppression of a day-to-day existence dominated by
> her
> >stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi López), an officer
> in
> >Franco’s army who seems to live by the maxim that
> >fascism begins at home.
> >
> >A patriarch both by temperament and ideology, the
> >captain treats Ofelia’s mother, Carmen (Ariadna
> Gil),
> >with chilly, humiliating decorum, making it clear
> that
> >she is of value to him only because she is pregnant
> >with his son. He takes pleasure in the exercise of
> >authority and in the trappings of military
> discipline,
> >addressing himself to the torture of captured
> >resistance fighters with sadistic relish. He seems
> >happiest when he is inflicting pain.
> >
> >The partisans up in the hills — and their
> sympathizers
> >in the captain’s own household, including the
> >housekeeper, Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) and the
> doctor
> >(Alex Angulo) who attends to Carmen — represent one
> of
> >the film’s alternatives to the militarized,
> >hierarchical society taking shape in post-civil war
> >Spain. Their easy solidarity and ragged mufti stand
> in
> >emphatic contrast to the crisp uniforms and
> >exaggerated obeisances of Vidal and his men. At his
> >dinner table the captain gloats that Franco and his
> >followers have defeated the “mistaken”
> egalitarianism
> >of their republican opponents.
> >
> >Like “The Devil’s Backbone,” which also took place
> in
> >the shadow of the Spanish Civil War, “Pan’s
> Labyrinth”
> >is not overly concerned with moral subtlety. In Mr.
> >López’s perversely charismatic performance, Vidal
> is a
> >villain of the purest, ugliest kind. For Mr. Del
> Toro
> >the opposite of evil is not holiness, but decency.
> >
> >Ofelia serves as her stepfather’s foil not because
> of
> >her absolute goodness or innocence but rather
> because
> >she is skeptical, stubborn and independent-minded.
> Her
> >rebellion is as much against Carmen’s passivity as
> it
> >is against Vidal’s brutality, and she gravitates
> >toward the brave Mercedes as a kind of surrogate
> >mother.
> >
> >Mercedes’s surreptitious visits to the rebels often
> 
=== message truncated ===


Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com