» July 11, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth 
2006 / Guillermo del Toro > The combination of fantasy and violence is something that's always fascinated me because at the core of most fairy tales is a sense of naivety that is both wondrous and disagreeable. Emotions toward the latter comes outward mostly because we realize that stories are an escape, and that fairy tales don't really happen without hard work (i.e., don't exist). In film, we simply take a ride in our minds that comes hurling back to square one once the end credits roll.
With Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro has given respect to the reality of time and space while still proceeding with his story of magic. The parallelism of good vs. evil along with the convex nature of Ofelia's fate are the cornerstones of the film's effectiveness. And since the idea of the happy ending is a modern one (and not one that's fair or objective to the viewer's emotions), I believe del Toro's choice of conclusion judiciously stops short of manipulating the viewer and the viewer's after-film hopes.
I'm neither perturbed nor surprised that The Lives of Others beat out Pan's Labyrinth for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Both are beautifully crafted, but the latter's taste in violence is not fit for all. That being said, only The Last King of Scotland and Memories of Matsuko compete with this as my personal favorite films of 2006.
Gotta disagree with you here. I was promised a movie about some fantasy land in the trailers (and, curiously, in the reviews). A fairy tale for adults, I guess. And I got a Spanish Civil War movie in return that had an unrelated story about a girl's inability to fit in with "the real world". I thought the "father" was strong and his story was far more interesting than the girl's, whose tasks lasted a total of five minutes over the span of the movie. If there's any parallel between the father's struggle against good and her supposed struggle against some sort of of unclear evil, del Toro (totally overrated as a storyteller) clearly chose the wrong side to focus on. I went to see a Spanish language fairy tale and I got 75% guerrilla warfare tale.
That being said, the cinematography was good.