solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

I've been waiting for this one for a while now. I had a feeling it was going to shake up my top three movies of the year, and boy was I in for a treat. It's a wonderful and truly amazing work. I found myself utterly gobsmacked staring at the fantastic looking Digital Projection (oh yes! Not a pube in sight! Smoochy!) on the screen. 

So, what is it? Well, its a dark and twisted Alice in Wonderland type fairytale about choice and faith, set against the backdrop of a WWII fascist Spain. A little girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) who's widowed mother weds a captain from the Spanish Civil guard who's marshalling a heavily wooded area of Spain to try and thwart a small anti-fascist resistance. Ofelia is taken with her pregnant mother to be with him as he believes that a Son should be born where his Father is. Whilst at what can only be described as a military camp rather than a home, Ofelia discovers an ancient Labyrinth in the gardens near the surrounding woodlands. Within this Labyrinth, she discovers a Faun who claims that Ofelia is in fact the daughter of a Great King. A princess. He explains that it is prophesized that she would return, but that in order to return to her kingdom, she must perform three tasks before the Moon is Full.

The stuff that fairytales are made of…

Its delightful in how effective it is in bringing the contrast between this fantastical world that Ofelia is enveloped in and the harsh reality of Civil war and its brutalities she escapes from. This is something Del Toro wanted to present vividly to the audience and does so with a magestic confidence. We're thrown about between these two contrasting worlds so elegantly that it really left me speachless. When Ofelia is in the the "real" world we're bombarded with cold, dark, blue settings that make us feel claustraphobic and disturbed, yet when she delves into the "other" world its just as dark in mood but for some reason there's a warmth to the settings she traverses. Stark and violent contrasts but with undertones of disconcerting similarities, executed with sheer brilliance.

The creatures she meets are amazing. Not the over the top, elaborate, CG fest you might expect, rather relying on the creatures being just downright frightening.

The Faun is just how Fauns are supposed to be in tales of old. You just never know if you can trust him despite his seemingly helpful nature. Doug Jones (Abe Sapien in Hellboy) is remarkable in his performance and delivery of the Faun, utterly capturing the  essence of its nature with a truly creepy and sly, altogether not fully trustworthy characterization of the mythical Faun creature. Outstanding.

The other creatures to feature include fairies, which seem to be shapeshifters capable of morphing from a beatle/bug type insect, to the more traditional fairy with wings after Ofelia shows one of them a picture from one of her fairytale books; and A Child eater, who's demeanor is truly unsettling. He sits in his lair at his table awaiting children to eat something from his well laden table. The creature's lair is as unsettling as his performance, with paintings of children being murdered on the walls, hundreds of childrens shoes discarded in a pile in the corner of the room from his previous victims, and as I mentioned, a table laden with delectable food so tempting that even I was feelign peckish at the sight of it. But… Its forbidden to eat or drink anything from the table, no matter how small. Ofelia is instructed by the Faun that her life depends on not consuming anything. The scene that follows makes absolute nightmarish cinematic history.

In contrast to this more magical nightmare that Ofelia encounters, there is the harsh and brutal reality of the violence that her life outside the Labyrinth is entrenched in. These scenes really are as unsettling as those with the creatures and the Labyrinth, but in a much more harsh and cold way. The level of realism Del Toro imposes on these scenes really are violently brutal. This is not a kids film, in fact, I was wholley surprised it managed a 15 certificate.

This is Guillermo Del Toro's movie, and its made in no uncertain terms, by his rules. I really got the sense of this not having been interfered with by execs on any level, rather that we're given a gift, straight from the mind of a director who is arguably one of the most prolific directors of our day. It has the feel of an indie flick, but the look of a true classic.  Del Toro with his direction is completely unpatronizing and certainly doesn't spoon feed us anything. He presents the story with an innocence that captures the mind from the opening scene, never talking down to us or hinting at anything aside from the narrative. Its not a film about a girl escaping into her own imagination, nor is it about an imaginary fantasy world manifested by a girls wish to be taken away from it all, it is instead the story of a girl trapped between two frightening realities, we're just unsure about which one is more real… 

Ivana Baquero is brilliant as Ofelia. Knocks Dakota Fanning right out of the water. Her character is so endearing that we develop an emotional bond with her almost instantly. Its Alice, but without the toffy talk.

Sergi López is stunning as the captain. The epitome of evil. We hate him with a passion. He's a true bastard! Performance perfection.

Ariadna Gil as Ofelia's pregnant and sick mother plays out a sophisticated performance which captures the maternal  love she has for Ofelia, and Ofelia's unborn brother

I cannot rate this movie highly enough. Its a masterpiece. A legendary landmark in film history, and one that could easily be one of the best films you'll see this decade. Its faultless. Usually when you are anticipating a movie as much as I was this, there are things that you just set the bar too high for. This movie, clears the bar with several inches to spare. 

5 stars. You won't see anything better this year.

al 

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 11:45 am and is filed under Reviews, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.