Just saw this film today on DVD and was very impressed, to say the least. I skipped seeing it in the theater as I really didn't care for del Toro's earlier works ("Cronos" was decent, but "The Devil's Backbone" reeked of complete artificiality to me). I was simply amazed at the low-key approach del Toro took on creating an emotionally powerful fantasy/realstic drama in PAN'S LABYRINTH, though. Definitely a superb film, no matter what genre label it may fall in to.

As usual, the search function on MHVF is basically obsolete, but I do remember a discussion of this film here when it was first theatrically released. I recall skimming through it a bit trying to skip spoilers. I would like to re-visit that thread now if anyone has a link to it.

Did you check the SF/Horror archives? Here's one.

Thanks - I checked there, but didn't find it. I meant to post this in the euro-forum as well - I guess the labyrinth is all over the place now.

Here's a more detailed thread:

Is PAN cut in the US?

I'd be curious if you have any thoughts as to my speculations at the tail end of the thread...

Ya, that's the thread I remembered - thanks!

Your thoughts are interesting. I hadn't thought of it that way. It's possible.



SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!



SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!




I pretty much felt the fantasy elements were in her head to help her escape from reality, but I also liked the idea that it was all somewhat ambiguous and that you just don't know for sure. I don't really want a concrete explanation. I'm avoiding the commentary track and probably most of the extras as I would like to retain the magic of just not knowing for sure...

This is good enough a thread as any!

I thought it was a masterpiece in every way.


marc

I'm glad you are all enjoying the film. The R1 2-disc set is very impressive. DTS, Baby! Who would have guessed this film's lineage of influence included videogames, Pink Floyd, and Romero's Day Of The Dead?

Jeffrey, I read back to your comments on the earlier thread. Interesting idea. In movies like Whip And The Body and Candyman, I like that idea that the protagonist could be deluded AND the fantasy characters could be real. I don't think Del Toro's commentary addresses the "is it or isn't it real" question until late into the movie. While he puts a definite hint going one way over the other, the film is ambiguous enough to satisfy both camps.

Funny how a movie that got one of the best critical receptions last year and did nicely at the box office, to say nothing of the Oscars and other awards, is now discussed in the Cult Movie section at Mobius! What I wanna know is... what's a Cult Movie?!? :P

Video games were an influence on Pan's Labyrinth? Which ones? I'm not really much of a video game player these days, but I am interested in them as a type of pop art (I enjoy playing around with VG sound effects to make a certain type of electronic music. If you like, you can listen to one of my efforts here [http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/4464]. Could anyone translate that negative review in French?).

I finally saw Pan's Labyrinth yesterday, and overall, I thought it was a hell of a movie. Can't wait to see it again after going through some of the stuff on the second disc.

In the commentary, del Toro didn't mention any specific games. He just said the excellent ambient soundscapes in today's games were very influential towards his approach. As I understand it, some of the creaks and groans heard in the rear speakers were spoken by GDT and then tweaked. A certain part of Pink Floyd's The Wall (I forget exactly where) also influenced his audio mixing. The Romero quote was the stringy meat of the fairy's neck as the Pale Man chomped down on its head. Check the DVD extras for the whole story.

I noticed something kind of interesting in the movie. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I know enough to tell that "Pan"/The Faun speaks in a slightly archaic way and uses "vosotros" forms of verbs when he is addressing Ofelia, which I think is roughly equivalent to addressing someone as "thee" or "thou" in English (Today, "vosotros" is only used in Spain and is typically used to address a group of people in a familiar way, somewhat like "y'all" in English). Does Del Toro talk about this on the commentary track? I'll probably listen to it sometime this weekend after another viewing of the movie. There's a lot in it to absorb, and I'd like to just watch it again before I delve into the commentary.

Interestingly enough, I was at my favorite local video store yesterday, and there were about 100 copies of Pan's Labyrinth in the Foreign section (which is pretty close to the front of the store, interestingly enough), and there was a big "This movie is in Spanish with English Subtitles" sign on the shelf. For some reason, they didn't see fit to put a similar warning next to any of the other movies or next to Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima, which was in the foreign section (To me, it seems like it's still primarily an American film even if it's mostly in Japanese and has a Japanese cast).