pan's labyrinth
yes, another blogger blogging about pan's labyrinth. deal with it.
i just got home from seeing this movie and all i can say is wow - guillermo del toro is a god. i mean, he has such complete and total vision for the world('s) he's created in this film, from post-civil war spain to the aformentioned labyrinth; it's impossible to not be sucked in and taking on an amazingly haunting, beautiful and delicate journey.
i really do believe this film will be sticking with me for a bit. much more i want to write about it; but i've got to process what i've just watched. however, in a word or two, this movie is why i love movies. i was so completely transported - it blew me away.
there were three movies that came out this past year that really transported me in a way that so rarely happens anymore - the prestique, the fountain and this one.
in anticipation for the oscars, i've been writing up my own thoughts on the best films of the year (i'll be posting those thoughts sometime in the next couple of days). i can add this to that ++++ column.
4 comments:
Glad you saw it.
I thought the violence was gratuitous.
Kept folks on their seats and engaged though so in that sense I thought it was successful and well done.
I need to see this one soon. It's always cool to see a unique and strong vision. I just saw Volver and Notes on a Scandal. Two different films from the one you mentioned but both very well made character pieces worth checking out.ht
I think I need Ray to define "gratuitous" for me. I think the violence in "Kill Bill Volume 1" or any "Die Hard" movie is perhaps 'gratuitious'. Or heck, even the violence in shows like 24 and Alias too.
In this particular film, I think the violence would be better described as 'shocking' simply by the way that it always sort of came from left field.
the captain was a really good villian because of his violent whimsy.
Gratuitous means without cause or not necessary, unwarranted.
It was not necessary to see the results of torture to understand the character of the captain was brutal or sadistic or that the doctor was merciful
It was not necessary to see the captain knifed in the back and his cheek slit open to understand the lady feared for her life and detested him.
It was not necessary to watch the captain suture his face to understand that the little girl would have an opportunity to poison him through the whiskey he would drink to dull the pain of his suturing.
From my perspective, these scenes added no value to understanding the violence in her world or the brutality of Franco's Spain.
They went beyond necessity and served little purpose save to shock as you say and I thought that was useless.
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