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Pan's Labyrinth
Nov. 4th, 2012 04:34 pmI re-watched the trailer to Pan's Labyrinth right now to make sure I had not misremembered the movie I thought we were going to see last night. It strongly implies that it's a young girl embarking on a question akin to most 80s fantasy movies. But it's no Dragonslayer, Willow or Legend. Easily two thirds of the movie focuses on the relationships between Ofelia, the young protagonist, her pregnant mother, a Resistance spy and the cruel Captain Vidal in Fascist Spain. As such it was a let down; all we really see of the fantasy world is a giant toad, a mucky tunnel, a long hallway, a dark pit and Pan. I think most of my disappointment came from this incongruity. If there is a fantasy world, it seems mostly internal to Ofelia and not the viewer. There isn't even anything in the real/not real aspect to ponder.
There's a lot of gory, sadistic violence that I wasn’t prepared for, and some scenes, such as an injection and sewing of a wound are unnecessarily long and drawn out.
At least one thing I thought the movie did well was presenting Ofelia's onset of puberty. It was subtle and easily missed by anyone who under reads the movie as she often passes through vaginal shaped openings, the hint of sexuality when she sits on the edge of the tub and the way adults tell her to put away childish things. Even her name is a subtle hint at "female madness" as adults try to figure out what is wrong with her, particularly after a couple of incidents. But even after getting over my disappointment, I don't think this movie was all that great. It lacked flow, and was abrupt from scene to scene. A bit tighter focus on a couple of plots as opposed to A, B, C, D and E plots would have been a lot better.
There's a lot of gory, sadistic violence that I wasn’t prepared for, and some scenes, such as an injection and sewing of a wound are unnecessarily long and drawn out.
At least one thing I thought the movie did well was presenting Ofelia's onset of puberty. It was subtle and easily missed by anyone who under reads the movie as she often passes through vaginal shaped openings, the hint of sexuality when she sits on the edge of the tub and the way adults tell her to put away childish things. Even her name is a subtle hint at "female madness" as adults try to figure out what is wrong with her, particularly after a couple of incidents. But even after getting over my disappointment, I don't think this movie was all that great. It lacked flow, and was abrupt from scene to scene. A bit tighter focus on a couple of plots as opposed to A, B, C, D and E plots would have been a lot better.
