Arts Today in Stranger Suggests
posted by on January 15 at 11:00 AM
Pan’s Labyrinth
(FILM) Guillermo del Toro’s anti-fascist fairy tale isn’t just for fanboys and LOTR freaks. Its sound is as vivid as its pictures: The squeak of new leather and the metallic scrape of a straight razor herald the entrance of the bad guy, a little girl’s evil stepfather. Yeah, that’s an evil stepfather—this original story is more feminist than any of that revisionist shit. Pan’s Labyrinth is unapologetically brutal, just like traditional fairy tales. And it’s really scary. (See Movie Times for details.) ANNIE WAGNER
I saw it this weekend and really was into it. I loved how the girl's fantasy worked with the real world. Didn't need the Chinatown (but with the mouth) gross-out however.
Same here, on all counts. (And "Chinatown but with the mouth" is exactly how I thought of that scene, too...)
whatever. there was lovely imagery and incredible attention to sounds, but there is absolutely no call for the ridiculous amount of eye injury going on in that movie. and nobody can go on walking around after that stab-n-slice mr. fascist received.
Saw the movie Saturday night in Boston. STILL thinking about it. Very beautiful, engaging picture. The violence is almost a separate movie, not connected intellectually, but still the foundation of the story. Go see it.
Loved it. A lot.
The poster advertised it as "beautiful and exhilarating" but I and two others who saw it last night would say "allegorical" and "disturbing." Marketed as a fairy-tale, it was a shock to see its excessive violence, including torture, as a prop for the fairy-tale story, which it did have, and which was quite lovely. But for every minute showing the fairy land were 10 minutes of real-life horror. Who needs that?
I know I'm WAY in the minority, but I hated this movie. I found it tedious and sadistic. Certainly not deserving of the near universal raves it's been getting. While I admit, this kind of movie is not in my milieu, I thought the creatures were boring and forgettable (certainly nothing new), and the characters two dimensional. And what they put that little girl through. And for nothing. One of the worst movies I've seen all year. I saw "Notes on a Scandal" the night before and found it far far superior. But I'm obviously in the minority...
Monster House is also not suitable for kids who aren't at least teens.
Interesting comments in #s 1 & 2. I hadn't remembered the similarity to "Chinatown," but a couple of other moments seemed to be referencing "The Shining" (the final chase through the labyrinth) and Altman's "The Long Goodbye" (the coke bottle scene).
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