But that's what's great about Pan’s Labyrinth. I doesn't follow the formula that tells you what must happen when you're making a movie with a child.

When you’re making a movie about a child, you have to include some levity somewhere or else the whole thing seems artificial

You're right, Anne Frank's Diary was definately lacking the pie-fight conclusion.

I was at the screening Sunday and I totally agree. I loved the film and will probably go see it again (and drag as many friends as I can) when it opens this weekend. I haven't cried that hard at a movie since Dancer in the Dark. Maybe it was because we were in the back row, but it felt totally cathartic to just let go and weep. What a beautiful film.

No humor was what made Pan's Labyrinth so great.

Go rent Lemony Snicket and be sure to pick up a drool cup while you're at it.

I was going to argue about Pan's Labyrinth, but the other commenters got there first. Still, this movie sounds neat, and I'll be down in Seattle this weekend, so I'll have to drop in and see it.

Pan's Labyrinth would have been so much better with Jim Carey as the Captain.

You know, to liven things up with maybe an ad lib or two....

thanks for making me NEVER want to see The Fall.

I am with the other commenters... Pan's Labyrinth definitely didn't need humor in my book. In fact, it seems to me like that would have brought me out of the story. She used fantasy to help her cope with her situation, not humor, which I thought was a completely believable and natural thing to do.

Anyways, saw the trailer for The Fall at a movie yesterday -- it looks beautiful. But, the trailer didn't immediately draw me in to the story -- I think maybe it revealed too much. I definitely plan on seeing it at some point though.

I've been waiting for this movie for a long time. All of the gorgeous visuals from The Cell without any Jenifer Lopez.

I'll see this movie with an open mind. Sounds intriguing. But the notion that Pan's needs humor is just...ugh.

I actually didn't think Pan's Labyrinth was serious ENOUGH. I liked the movie okay, but can only imagine that a child living through that gruesome war would had very little time or incentive for fantasy. To say nothing of pie fights.

I'll try to see The Fall while it's in town, but my favorite film in the "to be a child during a war" genre remains "The Spirit of the Beehive." The precocious children in that film try to use their imaginations to cope with the world around them and find that reality is just too complex and painful to wish away.

Yeah, but its the book reviewer talking, anyhow.

That part where they tied the captured rebel up in the barn and proceeded to crush and dismember parts of his body was pretty hilarious.

Pans Labyrinth was a overblown piece of crap that needed a child's murder to be "serious."

The Diary of Anne Frank had moments of levity--reread it and you'll see. I'm not saying that Pan's Labyrinth needed a happy ending, I'm saying that it's impossible for children to be as relentlessly dour as the girl in that movie was.

I thought "Pan's Labyrinth" was more about war with the fascists in Spain than about the child. The child seemed to mirror what was happening in the war with her fantasy. Isn't that why the Captain was killed running from the Labyrinth? Or I could be wrong. Those European films...

While I don't know if I would say it was better than 'Pan's Labyrinth', I'm totally with you on how amazing 'The Fall' was. The only downside was that I'm now pretty sure I won't see a better movie during the rest of the festival...everything else is just going to pale in comparison.

The Fall was good, but Sita Sings the Blues was better. Heck, so was Vexille.

@18

Wow, Will! You managed to find similarity where there is none!

Oh, no, you're just continuing to find ways to tell everyone every movie you've seen so far at SIFF.

I thought The Fall was mediocre. Pretty, but uneven in almost every other way. The cryfest lasted way, way too long. I got a little bored.

Paul, you seem like an interesting guy. But sometimes you seem like a giant wuss.

No, I saw them back to back, Mr. Poe, and there are some thematic elements in each that impinge on the other.

I personally rated The Fall higher than any of my friends did, FWIW. There are other movies coming out that were in SIFF as well.

From my viewpoint, I would recommend The Fall to people, but not everyone will think it's the best movie of the year, and I can't say I blame them.

I hated Pan's Labyrinth and it's crypto-Catholic morality and plot-coupon fantasy elements and cartoon Spanish history, so your words are like manna to me. Now Tideland was an excellent movie about a young girl making her way with pluck and imagination in a dark and dangerous world.

Yeah, but Pan's Labyrinth had pretty images ...

It could have used a monkey sidekick, I guess.

No, I saw them back to back, Mr. Poe, and there are some thematic elements in each that impinge on the other.

What the fuck are you babbling about? Name 'em.

I can think of a moment of humor Pan's Labyrinth.

After the captain has his cheek sliced open he takes a drink of liquor that leaks through his bandage and causes pain.

At least I thought it was humorous.

"Yeah, but its the book reviewer talking, anyhow."

What does that even mean? Do you think before you type these things in?

Well, Mr. Aaron Huffman:

In point of fact--no.

No, I don't.

Did you see Vexille and Sita Sings the Blues, Mr. Poe?

If you haven't then discussing the thematic elements that impinge on each other of these three excellent movies is like arm-wrestling with a one-armed man with one arm tied behind his back ...

Just as an example ... the desert. Think of what it means in all three movies. Realize it changes it's meaning in all three movies. Ask yourself which desert was longer, which had a better story, and which had better music. Think about how the desert music in all three affected your perception of the desert, and how water in the desert had multiple meanings. As well as women in the desert, and love.

Like I said, I can't arm wrestle you with your one arm tied behind your back.

And then we could talk about pain, drugs, young men, ... the list goes on ...

You're a fucking idiot, Will. There is no goddamn desert in Pan's Labyrinth.

"Thematic elements" "impinging on the other". Realize the nonexistent desert in Pan's Labyrinth meaning is different than the other two, which are both different, yet somehow you're judging them side by side?

Just as an example ... the desert. Think of what it means in all three movies. Realize it changes it's meaning in all three movies. Ask yourself which desert was longer, which had a better story, and which had better music. Think about how the desert music in all three affected your perception of the desert, and how water in the desert had multiple meanings. As well as women in the desert, and love.

God. That's embarrassing to even read, Will.

The thing that sucked about Pan's Labyrinth was how everyone just gushed about how amazing and beautiful it was, and I went in not knowing a single thing about it. I thought it was a kid's movie and only figured out it was going in a different direction when that guy got his face smashed in with a coke bottle.

Basically, it just pissed me off that my friends failed to mention it's incredibly dark and violent, and if I don't know that about a movie, I have a hard time appreciating it since I'm just waiting for the next horrible thing to happen. I had a friend walk out when she thought Mercedes was going to get raped, since she can't watch rape scenes. But I guess that'll teach me to actually read about movies before I see them.

Irk! Should you and your friend really be watching R-rated movies at all? "Graphic violence and language" didn't tip you off? As much as I hate the MPAA, at least they still provide the service of helping to distinguish between children's films and *not* children's films.

I saw this movie on Sunday and was very disappointed. I expected a movie with intense visual stimulation and a weak plot and instead got a movie with formulaic "rich visuals" and a weak plot. I thought the cinematography was all crap except for the scenes where the girl sat with the injured mad on the bed. The visuals otherwise were empty. They were not art, they were advertising. But what should I have expected from an MTV video director? I did prefer the visual in The Cell to this film, but it was an even worse plot/acting spectacle.

I have seen people compare this movie to Jodorowsky regarding the visuals and I just doubt that these people can even appreciate art. Jodorowsky is a genius. This was pulpy crap.

I was certainly impressed by the breadth of locations but I thought they weren't photographed/filmed well.