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On Sunday, Helen and I went to watch Pan's Labyrinth. I will first say that it is visually one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Guillermo Del Toro has an incredible ability when it comes to making the visuals as striking as the story. This story however was very striking and not it the most pleasant way. From the trailers, one would assume that the young girl's fantasy part of the storyline far outweighs the other peoples stories. This is wrong, the fantasy part is a much smaller part than that of the people that surround the young girl. And the stories of those around her are filled with horrific violence and pain and tragedy. This movie is extremely beautiful in every way, but it's also one of the most disturbingly violent films I have ever seen.

I now owe Helen a very cheesy "chic-flic" as an equalizer for mental suffering caused in a theater situation.

Posted by on March 6, 2007 9:22 PM |

Comments

maybe more than one! :)

Posted by: helen [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 7, 2007 4:07 AM

Thomas and I saw it last Friday night and I'm in total agreement with you. Unbelievably beautiful, and so jarring and raw at the same time. I spent much of my time with my face buried in Thomas' armpit for the particularly graphic scenes.

I expected it to be more heavily based in fantasy as well.

I thought the (not so) subtle connections to 2 other famous stories were interesting: Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz.

I'd say at LEAST 2 chick flicks are warranted for that one :)

Posted by: laurie1101 [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 8, 2007 9:26 PM

Hmmm, I'd be interested to know what the connections you saw were. I would've said I saw more in common with the Narnia storylines than with either of those two. Of course I'm only familiar with the book Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass) and the cartoon of The Wizard of Oz.

Posted by: eustace (matt w) [TypeKey Profile Page] | March 8, 2007 10:08 PM

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