BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum
The World Beyond BetterMost => The Culture Tent => Topic started by: mvansand76 on April 28, 2007, 07:15:35 am
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Has anybody seen El Laberinto del Fauno, or Pan's Labyrinth? I watched it last night and I cried so much! It's the first movie since Brokeback that touched me this much... Hope we can discuss it here!
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I have seen it as well as (I think) ednbarby and several others. We have discussed it a little in varioius places, mostly on the Arts & Entertainment forum. And here's another mention:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,6361.msg153220.html#msg153220 (http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,6361.msg153220.html#msg153220)
Unfortunately, the violence and brutality somewhat ruined the movie for me. It also had a lot of dark scenes and so was difficult to make out the details.
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Yes, Melissa, I saw "Pan's Labyrinth" and thought it was great. I love stories about other realities, and this one was really different and compelling.
If you go to the old Resurrecting Movies thread, some discussion of it starts here (http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,5286.msg144994.html#msg144994).
I think it's okay to discuss it in CT, although more people might see it if it's in the arts forum. Let me know if you want me to move it. :)
Wasn't the little girl terrific?
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Yes, Melissa, I saw "Pan's Labyrinth" and thought it was great. I love stories about other realities, and this one was really different and compelling.
If you go to the old Resurrecting Movies thread, some discussion of it starts here (http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,5286.msg144994.html#msg144994).
I think it's okay to discuss it in CT, although more people might see it if it's in the arts forum. Let me know if you want me to move it. :)
Wasn't the little girl terrific?
Oh, she was amazing! I cried so hard at the end... :'(
I have to agree that some of the violence was too much for me too, they could have done with a torture scene or two less.
Yes, you can move it, sometimes I still don't know where things go....
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It was just unrelenting. Every time you thought things couldn't get worse...they did.
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It was just unrelenting. Every time you thought things couldn't get worse...they did.
I agree, I totally agree and it's the one reason why I would not be able to watch it again. Or they have to make a less violence version. I just thought that some of the violence or gross things weren't necessary and only served to shock the viewer. How they kept on shooting the guys in the head and showed that. How they showed how the doctor amputated the leg, the torture scenes.
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I've seen Pan's Labyrinth, too, Melissa - I just replied to your post about it over at the Resurrecting the Movies thread. As I said there, (and I hope this doesn't sound too trite) I thought it was magical.
For some reason, the violence didn't put me off of it like excess violence does in a lot of movies. For example, I cannot stomach Tarantino/Rodriguez movies. You couldn't pay me to watch Grindhouse, as good in a stylistic way as many critics say it is. Or Saw. Or Hostel. I just can't stand gratuitous violence. And yet like I say, for some reason the violence in Pan's didn't bother me all that much. I think I was just so captivated by the world the little girl created - too busy being overwhelmed by it to be fazed by much else.
I do deeply respect directors who use restraint in such things. There is a horrific scene in the beginning of "Disturbia" that could have been played to the hilt of goriness. But the director chose to show one character reacting to what he saw only, and to not show what he saw. It was so much more powerful that way. And again, I respected that he didn't stoop to that level and show it. Same goes for "The Lookout" that I saw a few weeks ago. A story about some very violent people, and a very violent car crash to boot, but again the director left most if not all of the gore to our imaginations. And the car crash scene in the latter one and the first scene in the former have stayed with me like they have because of that restraint - because our imaginations are so much more powerful than any special blood-like effects some FX artist can show us.
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I agree, I totally agree and it's the one reason why I would not be able to watch it again. Or they have to make a less violence version. I just thought that some of the violence or gross things weren't necessary and only served to shock the viewer. How they kept on shooting the guys in the head and showed that. How they showed how the doctor amputated the leg, the torture scenes.
I haven't seen the movie yet. I know I should have being in Spain and all. But oh well. Anyway, I have heard a lot about the movie and one of the reason why it's so violent is because Gillermo del Toro wanted it to be some sort of Fairy Tale, and Fairy Tales are utterly violent.
On the other hand (this is an assessment of mine), the Spanish Civil War was apparently very violent and crude, at least it is remembered like so over here. I know all wars are terribly violent but there seem to be a tendency here to present that historical moment as the most violent episode in Spain's history. Everything I have read or seen about the civil war include excessive violence . I read a novel Los Girasoles Ciegos (The Blind Sunflowers), and some scenes are hard to read. They're unrelenting. Sometimes I wonder if those stories are told in a crude manner to remind people how bad it was so it won't happen again.
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I haven't seen the movie yet. I know I should have being in Spain and all. But oh well. Anyway, I have heard a lot about the movie and one of the reason why it's so violent is because Gillermo del Toro wanted it to be some sort of Fairy Tale, and Fairy Tales are utterly violent.
On the other hand (this is an assessment of mine), the Spanish Civil War was apparently very violent and crude, at least it is remembered like so over here. I know all wars are terribly violent but there seem to be a tendency here to present that historical moment as the most violent episode in Spain's history. Everything I have read or seen about the civil war include excessive violence . I read a novel Los Girasoles Ciegos (The Blind Sunflowers), and some scenes are hard to read. They're unrelenting. Sometimes I wonder if those stories are told in a crude manner to remind people how bad it was so it won't happen again.
I rented it to watch it tonight so I'll let you know what I thought of it Mel.
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I just saw El Laberinto del Fauno, and it is defnitely one of the most original movies I have ever seen. I totally loved it, though it was so terribly sad. I didn't think violence was too crude. Perhaps it was stereotyped but I have read similar stories about the civil war. The post war was even more crude, especially out in the mountains. Franco was a very cruel dictator. Just recently, in Piedrafita, Leon, a common grave was found with hundreds of bodies belonging to members of the resistance. It was worse in the mountains, than in the cities as shown in the movie. And it lasted 40 years.
I think it is a thought provoking movie, and the fantasy enhances the reality of the war and violence. Something like Magic Realism. It is magical yet earthy.
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I just saw El Laberinto del Fauno, and it is defnitely one of the most original movies I have ever seen. I totally loved it, though it was so terribly sad. I didn't think violence was too crude. Perhaps it was stereotyped but I have read similar stories about the civil war. The post war was even more crude, especially out in the mountains. Franco was a very cruel dictator. Just recently, in Piedrafita, Leon, a common grave was found with hundreds of bodies belonging to members of the resistance. It was worse in the mountains, than in the cities as shown in the movie. And it lasted 40 years.
I think it is a thought provoking movie, and the fantasy enhances the reality of the war and violence. Something like Magic Realism. It is magical yet earthy.
Thanks for your review, yeah, I would call this movie one of the most original movies I have seen too. But, I am not sure I would like to see it again... and again.... and again like Brokeback...
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Absolutely one of the saddest films of the past year or so. I thought The Pursuit of Happiness was a downer, at least for a while, but it's not even close to P.L., which is light years beyond it in terms of sadness.
The young girl was unbelievably great in it.
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Absolutely one of the saddest films of the past year or so. I thought The Pursuit of Happiness was a downer, at least for a while, but it's not even close to P.L., which is light years beyond it in terms of sadness.
The young girl was unbelievably great in it.
She was! I couldn't believe how good she was....
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I saw it. I couldn't watch most of it. Pan's Labyrinth was much too violent for my tastes!