19.7.07

once upon a time...





El Libertino del Fauno
Pan’s Labyrinth

Guillermo Del Toro,
Writer and Director

Picturehouse, 2006

*

A strong visual experience - a film to be lost in … or to find one’s self in. Filled with the essential archetypal elements of story: the secret passage, dark forest, dream within a dream, sacred text, deepest fear, circles and doors, the rite of passage, hunting the beast, the labors...

Powerful storyline and presence of characters. A perfect blending of drama, fantasy, and terror. Superb cinematography. I cannot praise enough this must-experience film.

*

According to Ruthe Stein, senior writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Del Toro’s film resembles visually – and let me add add emotionally – Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937).

3 comments:

bjanepr said...

absolutely yes!

Collin Kelley said...

While I liked this movie, it just didn't move me like the way I thought it would. I don't hate it, but I don't feel the need to ever see it again. Give me "Spirit of the Beehive" anyday. I can watch that over and over.

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Thanks for the read, Barbara Jane and Collin.