Thursday, October 18, 2007

"Pan's Labyrinth"

I finished watching “Pan’s Labyrinth” a couple of nights ago. Almost all of my DVD watching is a multiple-night affair. This movie was spread out over five days, in three different viewing sessions. It’s really the only way I can watch a movie without staying up way too late or abdicating my responsibilities as husband, father, and homeowner. I’ve found that it lessens a movie’s impact.

Perhaps it lessened the impact of this movie. But, wow. I sure wish I’d seen it at the theater. Some viewers may have very legitimate reasons for not liking this movie. It is art, after all, and all response to art is subjective. Perhaps it seems too violent, or too fantastic, or too gloomy. Perhaps you hate anything touching on fantasy. Perhaps you hate subtitles.

Surely, though, one must recognize that this movie is masterfully assembled from the finest quality ingredients. Everything about it, I thought, was dead-on. Fortunately, I liked the ingredients, too. I could handle the violence, I like fantasy, I don’t mind subtitles.

So, wow. Best movie I’ve seen in years.

2 comments:

  1. I dug it too. It hit all the right notes with me. Fantasy, history, mythology, fairy tales, politics, the nature of heroism -- all well done with striking imagery. Also, I found myself constantly saying to myself "Wow, that woman really looks like Gabriella." You know, the partisan woman the little girl uses as a surrogate mother?

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  2. i loved it also. although i saw it all in one sitting, alone in my basement. agreed - definitely one of the best films made in a while.

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