Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

January 2007 activity

Total Log Entries: 84

Total Comments: 32

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Pan’s Labyrinth / El Laberinto del Fauno / Mexico/Spain/USA / 2006

Expecting Alice in Wonderland framed by the Spanish Civil War, I was instead beguiled by Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy film for adults, in which the fantasy aspects were scant, left to a minimum, with a creature here or there. While this may annoy those who’ve seen nothing other than pictures of Pan, the Giant Toad, and the Pale Man, del Toro’s decision to limit their on-screen appearances makes those scenes even more beautiful.

And Guillermo del Toro is someone who knows how to cultivate beauty from the deepest and darkest of circumstances. With the exception of Hellboy, which was itself naturally harsh and gloomy, del Toro’s never created a bright, lighthearted film. Not that I’m complaining—he’s obviously found a niche in which he’s not only comfortable but skilled, gifted with a seemingly endless supply of images and ideas.

And while the underlying messages and symbols are a bit vague—some parts of the film, especially the ending, feel like allusions to the New Testament—Pan’s Labyrinth never fails to disappoint. In fact, del Toro seems inexplicably able to manipulate our mindsets, to touch something deep within us that isn’t nostalgia or longing; the various “Oohs” and “Ahhhs” and especially “Ughs” that came from the audience, and even from me at times, are a measure of what this film can accomplish, even for an all-adult audience. No, this isn’t a movie for children—there is blood, gore, torture, man committing violence against man. And yet it speaks to an innocence in us, an idealism that adults tend to dismiss as nonsense. Definitely one of the best films of last year.

Jenny’s Review

by Adam Balz | Source: Warner Brothers/Picturehouse 35MM Theatrical Print
08 Jan 2007 3:03 PM | Submit Comment

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