Worth watching: Guillermo del Toro's 'El Laberinto del Fauno' (Pan's Labyrinth)

[Tesla Monkor]

A movie you might find interesting if you like dark fairytales. It's been released a few weeks ago in Spain (Spanish, but the dvd comes with English subtitles).

Very impressive and aestetically pleasing to watch - it takes place in 1944, in the Franco time in Spain.

Guilermo also did movies like Hellboy, Blade 2, Mimic, Cronos. Worth watching.

 

[NikonL]

little more info on the film? "Dark Fairytale" could mean something like Little Red Riding Hood. Plot, premise, actors etc?

 

[old.Tohtori]

Plot, premise, actors etc?

AND spoiler tags!

 

[soze]

http://imdb.com/title/tt0457430/

8.5 out of 10 not a bad rating

 

[Tesla Monkor]

Dark as in not a children's movie.

Spoiler

The story is about a girl, Ophelia, who travels with her pregnant mom to meet a captain in an outpost somewhere in an unnamed forest in Spain. The captain is hunting for insurrectionsts during Franco's reign in Spain.

Against that backdrop the girl finds a labyrinth behind the old mill the soldiers are staying at, and eventually meets the faun that lives there. She gets a series of tasks to accomplish for him. You see her go about the various quests, dealing with some really nasty creatures.

The story is very violent at times, and certainly not something you want young children to watch. It's dark both visually as literally in a brooding kind way.

Official movie website: http://www.panslabyrinth.com/

 

[Will]

I saw this in the cinema a few months ago. Its really good, but really depressing.

 

[yaruar]

Guilermo also did movies like Hellboy, Blade 2, Mimic, Cronos. Worth watching.

You forgot the Devils Backbone which is really the companion piece to Pan's and IMO his best film, probably even better than Cronos. I missed Pans at the cinema which annoyed me, but will be getting the DVD asap.

 

[psyco]

hmm... monsters mystery? good... but

Spoiler

does it hang heavily on the fact that there going to Spain to see the king? or is that just a sub-plot?

 

[Tesla Monkor]

Spoiler

They aren't going to Spain to see the King. The King is part of the sub-plot, part of the fairytale that Ophelia finds herself in. He's a sub-sub-sub-character.

 

[Wonk]

Spoiler

It looks really good

 

[Bahumat]

shitty southend never showed it, friend saw it in southampton.

never found it on newsgroups or torrents...may have to buy it

 

[yaruar]

shitty southend never showed it, friend saw it in southampton.

never found it on newsgroups or torrents...may have to buy it

Shock horror! God forbid you give money by choice to the independant film industry. Its one thing to steal from the big studios, but from film makers who probably rarely see a profit.. Terrible.

 

[tris-]

fucking loved the film. everything about it was so fantastic. for people too lazy to read subtitles, you will be happy to know there isnt that much dialogue in the film.

Spoiler

anyone else find the pale man and his domain quite gruesome?

possibly my fav scene.
the actor who played that general/seargant dude, what ever his rank, was fucking outstanding too.

 

[Bahumat]

Shock horror! God forbid you give money by choice to the independant film industry. Its one thing to steal from the big studios, but from film makers who probably rarely see a profit.. Terrible.

If it bugs you that much, you buy a copy and send it to me?

 

[eksdee]

absolutely brilliant movie. was enthralled from start to finish. i still don't understand why the english title is 'pan's labyrinth' and not (at worst) a litteral translation of the spanish title - or at best, just keeping the spanish title. seems so strange for distributors to make these decisions. i suppose it is purely a marketing decision but i think it's a pretty shallow one.

none-the-less, a must see film!

 

[scarloc]

Saw this at the cinema, I love fantasy films and I love war films, so this was pretty much perfect :] Well shot, convincing characters, and strong plotline.