Blog From The Bench

Why see a movie at a film festival that’s currently playing in theaters everywhere? While at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I originally intended to attend the showing of Pan’s Labyrinth that included a Q&A with director Guillermo Del Toro, but I wasn’t able to make it. Instead, I was at the film’s second, director-less showing, but what a film it is.

It’s 1944. In a small village in Spain, the local captain (Sergi Lopez) is obsessed with keeping control in the face of various insurgents opposed to the new fascist government. His new wife has just arrived with her young daughter from a previous marriage, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero). The girl lives two lives, one in the harsh and lonely environment of the Captain’s home, where she and her mother are subject to his cruelty, and one in a strange fantasy world located within the nearby labyrinth, where she discovers she is a long-lost princess with a destiny to fulfill.

As of this writing, critics and movie fans all over the world are falling all over themselves in praising this movie, so I’m not sure what I can say that’s any different, except everything you’ve heard is pretty much spot on. The movie is not just visually rich, but it also has a great story, fascinating characters, and moving performances.

Ivana Baquero has received a lot of deserved praise for her years-ahead-of-its-time performance here, but for me the real star is Sergi Lopez as the captain. This guy has jumped right to the top of my all-time favorite movie villains list. He is just a slimy, cold-hearted monster. While watching the movie you want awful, horrible things to happen to him. It’s thanks to Lopez’s spot-on acting here that you get that reaction.

The visuals of Pan’s Labyrinth really shine, as expected. The fantasy sequences are not just eye-popping, but they’re also dark and creepy throughout. If Ofelia is merely imagining her otherworldly journeys, then the poor girl is pretty messed up in her brain. The faun, her guide to this world, is all kinds of creepy, and you’re never quite sure if he’s on her side or not. Another monster, one with bulging eyeballs on his palms, is even ickier, with stretchy skin dangling from his thin frame as he slowly moves toward you.

But as a whole, Pan’s Labyrinth is less about the monsters and more about the characters, and their longings for either control or freedom from control. You’ll see a lot of brutality and violence from beginning to end, from both sides of the conflict. There are some interesting subtleties at work here too -- notice how a knife shows up in both of Ofelia’s two worlds and how they are used later on in important ways.

Given how goofy Del Toro sometimes acts in DVD extras on his other films, it was almost a surprise as to how mature and confident this one is. It’s certainly the best of his work that I’ve seen. Highly recommended.