Vision in the Children, Labyrinth

Not so often, while watching a movie, the thought will pass through my mind that I am lucky to be alive, to have been born in this time, in this country, with the means to see this film. This happened when I saw Pan's Labyrinth. It demonstrates the latin literary tendency to bring together the living and the dead. I went in only having a few clues as to its subject matter ... little girl ... Spanish Civil War ... otherworldly creatures. That's probably all anyone needs to know about the plot before they see it.

A lot of movies are like the coupons you get in the Sunday paper. They take up a lot of space, and you won't have much use for them unless you consume large quantities of stuff. But once in a while there's a story like Pan's Labyrinth that actually feels necessary; it couldn't have been told any other way except through film.

There are several scenes of terrible violence and pain; my response to this was to close my eyes and cover my ears. My tolerance for on-screen gore steadily decreases, and I have no idea why, but I won't fight it. Don't let this deter you from seeing the movie - you can always tell when the violence is about to happen. The film isn't perfect, but it is exquisite, even when depicting the grotesque. Guillermo del Toro's vision is strongly evident. No one else could have made this film.

I have to contrast this with my disappointment about Children of Men. The premise captured my attention: a world in which children are no longer being conceived. What would such a world look like? I love questions like this, so I was puzzled at how the movie turned out. I know that it was adapted from a novel, but something felt ... missing. Eventually I realized that what I didn't like was how the focus turned away from the characters to become extremely plot-driven. While that's not typically viewed as a problem by most people, I saw it as a problem for this story. It became an action movie. Kind of like how Saving Private Ryan was basically an action flick set in WWII. One by one, supporting characters are picked off; the only real question is, how many people will have to die before the protagonist accomplishes his mission?

This is appropriate in horror movies and true action movies (e.g. Predator, a personal favorite), but I've got no need for it in dramas. It's even worse when it's imposed on a really original idea, because a really original idea should exceed the limitations of this formula. I have no idea how it all goes down in the novel, but ultimately Children of Men didn't feel like an Alfonso Cuarón film. It felt like any competent director could have put it together, calmly placing one frame after another. I don't know what happened. I've been a fan of Cuarón since A Little Princess, so this was a real bummer. All that being said, it was a decent movie - it just fell short of its potential.

Right now I'm most interested in films that bear the unmistakable mark of the visionaries who make them.

Random comment:
Notes on a Scandal was not so great to me as it was to others. Yes, Judi Dench offers an amazing performance, but when does she not? As a character study, it was successful, but in the end I left the theater wondering if I should have seen Babel instead. The Prestige was far more engaging mentally, and I actually enjoyed it just as much the second time around.


(Studio photo: Scene from Pan's Labyrinth. Almost every shot in the film is worthy of framing.)