Jan on 15/2/2007 at 14:17
Aerothorn,
there is a pretty drastic torture scene; granted you don't see the torturing itself, but some of the results are shown and it's given me nightmares. The hand; my god, that's his hand...
The film is great though. I'd categorize it as a must-see! It started with the end-scene, and it's funny how the film had me so enthralled I forgot all about it until, well the very end :p
Rug Burn Junky on 15/2/2007 at 15:06
OK then,
I'll be the first to seriously say that I thought it was a bad movie. I saw it two or three months ago, and completely put it out of mind.
The cinematography was underwhelming, every major plot point was telegraphed, and the mesh of the two stories felt like they took two bad movies that couldn't stand up on their own, just to make one horribly mediocre one.
It was watchable and reasonably entertaining, but fuck, it hardly merits all the attention it gets. Just because it has subtitles, people seem to think it's cultured. If this same movie had been made in English, it would have been in the straight-to-DVD category.
BEAR on 16/2/2007 at 03:40
I didnt feel like the subtitles added anything to it, but I dont think they really took away anything either.
Oh well, I liked it.
Fingernail on 16/2/2007 at 09:28
I sort of know the kind of thing RBJ means but I think he's slightly wrong, because for me it was pretty affective; I cared about the characters which is why parts of the horror were so appalling.
I'd put that down to good acting and direction rather than the notion that I inherently care more about characters speaking in foreign languages through some sort of bourgeious appreciation of Spanish suffering.
Fair enough, it may have been more appealing in Spanish than it might had the dialogue been delivered in American English but then a film set in Texas wouldn't make much sense if it were in French.
Morte on 16/2/2007 at 15:01
Egads, underwhelming cinematography? I thought this was one of the prettiest movies of the year, and I watched it on a shitty little laptop screen. Well, pretty aside from the horriffic violence. While I'd agree that the way things are going to turn out can be spotted well in advance, I've never found that to get in the way of my enjoyment of a movie if the rest is up to scratch, and the acting, direction and visuals in Pan's Labyrinth definitely are.
Also, and I suppose that this is open to interpretation and sort of a Rorschach test, but I found this to be even bleaker than Children of Men. At least that movie offered a bit of hope in the end.
Agent Monkeysee on 16/2/2007 at 17:15
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
It was watchable and reasonably entertaining, but fuck, it hardly merits all the attention it gets. Just because it has subtitles, people seem to think it's cultured. If this same movie had been made in English, it would have been in the straight-to-DVD category.
I liked the movie well enough but I agree that if it weren't in a foreign language it wouldn't be getting nearly the attention. There's a certain mystique to watching a non-english film that I think elevates the material in your mind without any particular effort on the part of the filmmakers.
Pyrian on 17/2/2007 at 00:10
Well, it certainly does lend more authenticity than the usual Hollywood solution of having them speak in a bad, fake accent. :p
Scots Taffer on 19/2/2007 at 13:15
Just back from seeing this one in the cinema and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think perhaps that the simplistic plot that comes across as obvious and unsubtle to people like RBJ is what I find so stark and effective in a movie such as this. The simple drawing of good and evil sets the scene perfectly for these characters to inhabit their roles and give flesh and blood to this brutal fairy tale - that's the beauty of setting it from Ofelia's perspective, the world is that simple. Sure, there are hints of grey in characters and the same story with a different director would have yielded something else, perhaps an intimate character study in the time of war.
However, this is Del Toro's movie and this is where the lavish creature show of Ofelia's imagination unfurls, telling another simple yet effective story. A fantastic tale of a princess child who must journey through the rotten core of a tree to retrieve a key that must be used in the lair of a child-eating horror which allows her to unlock the instrument that can bring about her return to the magical kingdom - this story, I fear, in the hands of a American director would not be dealt with in the same restrained manner (the fairytale side is very simplistic until the end).
I really dug this movie, and no, it's not just being in a foreign language that gives this film its charm, it's the nature of the story and the perspective that the writer/director allows the audience to share during the events.
Random_Taffer on 19/2/2007 at 13:54
My wife and I both really loved this movie.
It's kind of funny that when I see a movie with subtitles in it, I don't really remember it having subtitles at all.
When I think back to certain lines in the movie I imagine them in English with English voices, even though they where spoken in Spanish. Odd.
