What I Did Instead of Shoemaking
Monday's shoemaking with E. was postponed; I'll report on that later. So darthsatyr and I had an unexpected afternoon to ourselves, which is always nice. So we decided to head to Edgewater for lunch and a movie.
What we saw was Pan's Labyrinth. We'd wanted to see it for a while because the previews looked fabulous, but we had misgivings as the last indy reality-bending film we saw (Science of Sleep) was terrible. Enough people whose opinion we trusted gave Pan's Labyrinth raves, though, so we took a chance.
And wow, am I glad we did.
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For those who are familiar with the Changeling RPG, we have an absolutely classic childling Sidhe who awakens to her faerie self, undergoes harrowing tests in the faerie realm while at the same time struggling to survive in the brutal mortal world, and in the end must make one crucial choice that leads to her regaining her rightful place as princess. The two worlds meet and intertwine; both have their beauties and their horrors, and even at the end it's never made entirely clear which one is more real. There are evocations of Spirited Away, the Lord of the Rings movies, and even Labyrinth, though it is very much its own creature.
Visually, this film is one of the more convincing depictions of an otherworld I've ever seen. Everything is lit in unearthly twilight blues and greys. Giant stick-insects turn into faeries who actually look like alien creatures, not tiny humans with wings. The devouring creature is marvelously creepy, and it was a relief to learn that he was not the Faun, despite the number of reviewers who identified him as such in their pictures, seriously confusing me, since that thing looks nothing like a faun.
The Faun (who is never actually named, and I rather wish they'd stayed with the Spanish title, which doesn't name him) looks marvelously ancient and made of living wood and stone, and either his legs are really good CG or I want to know how they were crafted. There was also something wonderfully shivery about the fact that he meets Ofelia in her bedroom; not only can she enter his realm, he can enter hers. According to Wikipedia, he was played by Doug Jones, who was Abe Sapiens in Hellboy, another of del Toro's movies -- and had to learn archaic Spanish for the Faun's role.
Ofelia's challenges were straight out of fairy tale: the toad at the base of the withered tree, resisting the forbidden feast, racing an hourglass to get safely back home. I have to admit I smacked my head when she ate from the banquet table -- anyone who's read as many fairy tales as she has should know that rule number one is Don't Eat Anything! Ever! Not to mention she should have known that the rule is there for more reasons than "the food might be missed." But in a way it was fitting -- most fairy tale heroes fail at least one of the tests.
As for the human story, I know very little about the Spanish civil war, but I didn't need to for the sadistic jackbooted stepfather to be a figure as much out of nightmare as the devourer with eyes in his hands. One of my favorite side characters was the rebel doctor, working alongside the Captain and helping the rebels in any small, quiet way he could, then finally defying him in the end. I do wish we'd been shown more of a reason for Ofelia's mother to marry the Captain than just loneliness -- if she was just lonely, and not desperate or starving, wasn't there anyone less evil to keep her company? Even if she wouldn't tell her daughter, a word or two to one of the servants (or between them) would have sufficed. If there was no one else, again, it would have been nice to be shown that.
There are a couple of places where the storytelling strings peek out from behind the curtain, and characters act stupidly because if they don't the story will stall. Best example is when Mercedes, the maidservant, has the Captain at her mercy. She slashes at his face, but though she threatens to kill him she doesn't actually attempt it. This is because the Captain has to live to the end, obviously...but she could have tried and been overpowered, or he could have survived a wound she thought was fatal. Ofelia is also unnecessarily slow in several instances -- when you're racing an hourglass, don't mosey down the hallway! And when you've grabbed your baby brother out from under your evil stepfather's nose, don't linger in the doorway until he sees you! These are times when you RUN! Finally, the ending had me flashing back to Labyrinth, in a "Sarah, forget about the baby" way, minus David Bowie in tights.
Still, minor qibbles. This is a gorgeous, dark, magical invention, drawing on archetypal imagery and story-elements while still remaining very much its own story. Be aware that there is violence, blood, and language, and that the faery realm is every bit as dangerous as the human one -- this is no escapist fantasy, but I found it the stronger for that.
What we saw was Pan's Labyrinth. We'd wanted to see it for a while because the previews looked fabulous, but we had misgivings as the last indy reality-bending film we saw (Science of Sleep) was terrible. Enough people whose opinion we trusted gave Pan's Labyrinth raves, though, so we took a chance.
And wow, am I glad we did.
'>
For those who are familiar with the Changeling RPG, we have an absolutely classic childling Sidhe who awakens to her faerie self, undergoes harrowing tests in the faerie realm while at the same time struggling to survive in the brutal mortal world, and in the end must make one crucial choice that leads to her regaining her rightful place as princess. The two worlds meet and intertwine; both have their beauties and their horrors, and even at the end it's never made entirely clear which one is more real. There are evocations of Spirited Away, the Lord of the Rings movies, and even Labyrinth, though it is very much its own creature.
Visually, this film is one of the more convincing depictions of an otherworld I've ever seen. Everything is lit in unearthly twilight blues and greys. Giant stick-insects turn into faeries who actually look like alien creatures, not tiny humans with wings. The devouring creature is marvelously creepy, and it was a relief to learn that he was not the Faun, despite the number of reviewers who identified him as such in their pictures, seriously confusing me, since that thing looks nothing like a faun.
The Faun (who is never actually named, and I rather wish they'd stayed with the Spanish title, which doesn't name him) looks marvelously ancient and made of living wood and stone, and either his legs are really good CG or I want to know how they were crafted. There was also something wonderfully shivery about the fact that he meets Ofelia in her bedroom; not only can she enter his realm, he can enter hers. According to Wikipedia, he was played by Doug Jones, who was Abe Sapiens in Hellboy, another of del Toro's movies -- and had to learn archaic Spanish for the Faun's role.
Ofelia's challenges were straight out of fairy tale: the toad at the base of the withered tree, resisting the forbidden feast, racing an hourglass to get safely back home. I have to admit I smacked my head when she ate from the banquet table -- anyone who's read as many fairy tales as she has should know that rule number one is Don't Eat Anything! Ever! Not to mention she should have known that the rule is there for more reasons than "the food might be missed." But in a way it was fitting -- most fairy tale heroes fail at least one of the tests.
As for the human story, I know very little about the Spanish civil war, but I didn't need to for the sadistic jackbooted stepfather to be a figure as much out of nightmare as the devourer with eyes in his hands. One of my favorite side characters was the rebel doctor, working alongside the Captain and helping the rebels in any small, quiet way he could, then finally defying him in the end. I do wish we'd been shown more of a reason for Ofelia's mother to marry the Captain than just loneliness -- if she was just lonely, and not desperate or starving, wasn't there anyone less evil to keep her company? Even if she wouldn't tell her daughter, a word or two to one of the servants (or between them) would have sufficed. If there was no one else, again, it would have been nice to be shown that.
There are a couple of places where the storytelling strings peek out from behind the curtain, and characters act stupidly because if they don't the story will stall. Best example is when Mercedes, the maidservant, has the Captain at her mercy. She slashes at his face, but though she threatens to kill him she doesn't actually attempt it. This is because the Captain has to live to the end, obviously...but she could have tried and been overpowered, or he could have survived a wound she thought was fatal. Ofelia is also unnecessarily slow in several instances -- when you're racing an hourglass, don't mosey down the hallway! And when you've grabbed your baby brother out from under your evil stepfather's nose, don't linger in the doorway until he sees you! These are times when you RUN! Finally, the ending had me flashing back to Labyrinth, in a "Sarah, forget about the baby" way, minus David Bowie in tights.
Still, minor qibbles. This is a gorgeous, dark, magical invention, drawing on archetypal imagery and story-elements while still remaining very much its own story. Be aware that there is violence, blood, and language, and that the faery realm is every bit as dangerous as the human one -- this is no escapist fantasy, but I found it the stronger for that.