Pan's Labyrinth

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UberBeaver said:


I didn't want to ruin your thread. I was trying to be nice. :mad:
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angry-smiley-178.gif
 
elevated_u2_fan said:
where were we?

Oh yes, Mercedes; a previous candidate for princess? She mentioned that she didn't trust Fauns and there was something else she said that I can't remember now...
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She said she used to believe in something or other, but no longer does. Fairies maybe? Mercedes is the grown up version of Ofelia (Ophelia died young too, but I don't remember exactly why. I know she drowned...) and since she missed her chance to enter the fairy tale world, she has to deal with the real world and all it's evils.

As for the ending:

SPOILERS:

I think she needed to die an innocent in order to enter the world of the fairy tale, which she did. Isn't loss of innocence a recurring theme in fairy tales? And really, this movie is just a fairy tale, nothing more.
 
A couple friends of mine are claiming this is the greatest film ever made. Fools. It was a great film for sure, but not even the best of the year.

When I watched it I expected a much larger percentage of fantasy in the film. Poor marketing I say. Piss poor. Would explain why a lot of people didn't go see it/understand what it was all about. I really admire the balance in the film though.

As for the question of the ending. I tend to believe the fantasty was all in Ophelia's head, although there are several clues throughout the film to suggest otherwise. But I think they were there if only to blur the lines more and make it more ambiguous.
 
Lancemc said:
A couple friends of mine are claiming this is the greatest film ever made. Fools. It was a great film for sure, but not even the best of the year.

When I watched it I expected a much larger percentage of fantasy in the film. Poor marketing I say. Piss poor. Would explain why a lot of people didn't go see it/understand what it was all about. I really admire the balance in the film though.

As for the question of the ending. I tend to believe the fantasty was all in Ophelia's head, although there are several clues throughout the film to suggest otherwise. But I think they were there if only to blur the lines more and make it more ambiguous.
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:tsk: You're too jaded to go the fantasy realm.

I don't know if I'd say greatest of all time, but it really impressed me. I'll give it some time, but right now I'd probably put it Top 10.
 
After the torrential downpour outside, I shall go to my mailbox and fetch this movie.

I'm excited.
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
After the torrential downpour outside, I shall go to my mailbox and fetch this movie.

I'm excited.
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as you should be.

this movie is awesome, great, fantastic, brilliant.

:bow:
 
Consider me in the group of people too jaded for the fantasy realm. I thought it was very good, but not as great as others thought.

I didn't care for the ending and tend to think there was no fantasy world. It was all in her head, and now she's just spoiler spoiler spoiler.
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
After the torrential downpour outside, I shall go to my mailbox and fetch this movie.

I'm excited.
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...just don't get too excited. For your own good.


Funny story, btw.

I was at Blockbuster a couple days ago, and this young white trash couple was looking for a movie. They looked at Epic Movie, decided not to check that out, then the wife started talking about how bad she wanted to see The Grudge 2. Luckily the husband hadn't seen The Grude 1, so that was out. Then they started looking at Pan's Labyrinth. I was shocked. A glimmer of hope. Maybe this trashy dumb-as-shit couple would actually expose themselves to a little culture for a change. Then this conversation started, as best as I can remember:

Husband: Hey, that looks good "A dark fantasy for adults". Want to get this one?

Wife (seriously considering...reading box): Yeah, it looks pretty cool, let's just get this. Hey where did Seymour (their son...I just made up the name, who the fuck knows what they named that unfortunate dim little bastard) go. Oh look, he picked up Spiderman. Hehehe, go put it back.

Husband: So what are we doing? I really wanted a horror film, let's just get The Grudge 2.

Wife: But you never saw the first one, it won't make sense. Forget it.

Husband: Alright, just get the labyrinth movie then.

Wife: You know, this looks a little too much like Lord of the Rings. And you know I hated that. I was hoping this would be more like Labyrinth (David Bowie flick I assume she means), but this seems more Lord of the Rings to me. Forget it.

The couple walks away. And I seriously considered going up to them and explaining that it's more of a dramatic war film than anything else, but what good would it have done. They would have hated it anyway.

Idiots.
 
Oh man, that's classic. I have a similar story:

I got a 20 dollar gift certificate to Circuit City for my birthday, and since I never buy anything there, I figured, what the hell? I'll buy an overpriced DVD there.

So I look around for Ed Wood, can't find it. It's impossible to find anything because:

A. the people that work there are idiots
B. everything's unorganized and out-of-place
C. they suck

So after looking for other movies, I decide to get Die Hard for 10 bucks, which was a good purchase, now I needed a second movie. I couldn't find Shawshank and my mom doesn't know I've seen Pulp Fiction, so I decide on Lawrence of Arabia.

I couldn't find it, so I ask one of the ladies there to help me, here was our exchange:

Me: Excuse me, do you know if you guys have Lawrence of Arabia in your DVD section?

Her: Lawrence of what?

Me: Lawrence of Arabia. It's a movie.

Her: I'll check the computer.

So we go to the computer, and she spells out Laurence of... and I stop her.

Me: Oh, it's LaWrence.

Her: I've never heard of this movie, I don't think we have it.

Sure enough, they have 3 copies. I buy one and get Die Hard and get the fuck out of there.

Fucking people.
 
I wish people were more like Lawrence of Arabia. They would be awesome.
 
I thought the movie was good, but I saw it as a period/war flick rather than a fantasy movie. I thought the fairy world was inside her head too, but there were some things that made me wonder if it was all real. But the ending changed that for me.
 
Pearl said:
I thought the movie was good, but I saw it as a period/war flick rather than a fantasy movie. I thought the fairy world was inside her head too, but there were some things that made me wonder if it was all real. But the ending changed that for me.
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I agree wholly. This isn't really a fantasy film. It's a war film. I guess you could get away with calling it a fantasy film with the backdrop of war, but the balance of the two elements is heavily in favor of war.
 
I really loved this movie and everything else I've seen this year has yet to top it as my favorite film of the year. I didn't know much about it before I went into it, so I wasn't expecting to be treated to a fantasy fest. I thought the fantasy element was played out just right - had it been pushed into a larger part of the story I think it would've hindered my enjoyment of the movie. I was more captivated by the hardships of the real world than I was with the fantasy world Ophelia created. I definitely agree that is ultimately a movie about the Spanish civil war (unlike Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone, which features it as a small part of the plot).

What I enjoyed the most about Pan's Labyrinth was the way that it was subtly written/directed by Del Toro. There is no clear answer as to whether or not the fantasy world that Ophelia created was real. When confronted by anyone who saw her attempt to interact with her fantasy world it was shown to be nothing, but there were also cases where it was a bit too ambiguous. It's ultimately up to you to decide whether Ophelia's fantasy world was real or not. I like that.

As for the final scene, I think that she was dreaming about her fantasy world as she bled to death. The scene's hazy atmosphere was noticeably different from the other fantasy scenes - it played out like a dream/hallucination.

I personally think it makes the film more meaningful (and depressing) if the fantasy was not real.
 
Queen Bee said:
As for the final scene, I think that she was dreaming about her fantasy world as she bled to death. The scene's hazy atmosphere was noticeably different from the other fantasy scenes - it played out like a dream/hallucination.

I personally think it makes the film more meaningful (and depressing) if the fantasy was not real.
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Geez, I never looked at the ending in that light...pretty insightful :up: I'd really like to watch it again now. Easily one of the best movies I've seen this year. I'm also glad I saw it in the theatre...it made it that much more magical.
 
I liked it a lot, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. The best movie of '06 was Children of Men, by far.
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
I liked it a lot, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be. The best movie of '06 was Children of Men, by far.
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:up:

I feel like Pan's could have used a bit more subtlety in a few key scenes.
 
The Captain's best scene was when he was stitching up the cut on his face, I wish he had more scenes like that.

Here's this man who believes he's not this horrible monster, yet everything blatantly shows that he is. The movie would've been stronger if The Captain was more believable and not some evil villain.
 
The Captain was actually my favorite character in the movie. I sort of liked the fact that he was just an outright-evil S.O.B. You don't see villains like that very often anymore.

But I did feel like too many of the scenes were needlessly expository, the scenes dealing with the military parts of the film moreso than the fantasy parts. I think Del Toro, while he has a brilliant eye artistic eye for thing visually, tended to direct certain scenes too...obviously? If that makes sense. Sort of like "Look at this, and now you should feel this way about this situation," or that certain character's motivations were simply spelt out in some scenes, instead of suggested.
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
The Captain's best scene was when he was stitching up the cut on his face, I wish he had more scenes like that.

Here's this man who believes he's not this horrible monster, yet everything blatantly shows that he is. The movie would've been stronger if The Captain was more believable and not some evil villain.
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That was a great scene :up:

I don't know about changing the captain, however. He played the power-hungry, war-loving archetype perfectly...and maybe for good reason. I had the impression that he embodied the ruthlessness of crazed military men all throughout history...right up to present day global leaders. His increasing madness and hate represent a direct contrast to Ophelia's quest for magic and hope in the midst of chaos.
 
angelordevil said:
I don't know about changing the captain, however. He played the power-hungry, war-loving archetype perfectly...and maybe for good reason. I had the impression that he embodied the ruthlessness of crazed military men all throughout history...right up to present day global leaders. His increasing madness and hate represent a direct contrast to Ophelia's quest for magic and hope in the midst of chaos.
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:love:

Exactly.
 
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