I probably saw my first Guillermo Del Toro, Mimic, without noting who the director was. It turns out that the version of Mimic that was released was so mutilated by the studio that it left only an impression of a fun popcorn monster movie with some good atmosphere, but no lasting presence.
Much later, I heard a lot of buzz about a Spanish language film he had made about a ghost in an orphanage set during the Spanish Civil War. Miracle of miracles! The film actually came to a theatre in San Antonio, and I took a long lunch one weekday and caught it in a nearly empty theatre. I walked in as the opening credits were rolling. I looked around for an empty row, still snow blind from the bright sun outside. There looked to be only one other person in the theatre on the far side of the room. I rushed into the closest row and smashed with more force than I’d care to admit into the other person in the theatre. I whispered an apology and moved to a seat in the middle of the row. I loved The Devil’s Backbone immediately. It’s still the best ghost story I’ve ever seen. It has a sense of dread in every frame, the cinematography is beautiful - every frame is planned, and the surprises in the script really work. It’s the kind of film that unfortunately can only be made outside of the studio system.
He came back to the studio system for his next two films. The much more successful Blade II and Hellboy - two great examples of the comic book genre. Both in my DVD collection.
I have been waiting to see Pan’s Labyrinth for over a year. I knew very little about the story line, but I knew that it was in a similar setting to The Devil’s Backbone and at this point, Guillermo’s name on the project was enough to get me in the theatre seat.
One of the sad things about living in San Antonio is that we generally get passed up on the initial release of smaller films. Fortunately, Austin is close enough to warrent a trip up and usually gets films like this. Virginia and I drove up on the opening Friday to check it out. We weren’t disappointed.
All of the precision in the cinematography that I loved in The Devil’s Backbone was again here in Pan’s Labyrinth. In this film, also was the combination of the horror in both the supernatural and natural worlds. The new film is much more brutal in its violence and it was interesting to me that the real-life horror was more intense and disturbing than anything that happens in the fantasy realm. I’ve seen a lot of violent films but the violence in this film made me (and other audience members) wince in a way that usually don’t. The story line is well plotted, and the real and fantasy element mirror each other in interesting ways. All of the characters are well cast. In particular, Ivana Boquero as Ofelia and Sergi Lopez as her very evil step-father Capital Vidal are outstanding. Sergi Lopez manages to be an even more vile villain than Ralph Fiennes managed in Schlinder’s List. The movie is tense and is most definitely not for children despite what the fantasy elements might seem to imply in the age of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia. Pan’s Labyrinth is heartbreaking, beautiful, and really should be seen in the theatre.
Go. Now. I mean it. It’s showing in San Antonio now!
