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Pan's Labyrinth

Originally published at Apollo Lemmon. Please leave any comments there.

Friday night I went with Nathan to see Pan’s Labyrinth at the Oxford Theatre. We braved the cold for a few blocks of walking and were rewarded by one of the finest fantasy films I’ve seen in a long while.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” is the story of a young girl who travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother’s new husband in a rural area up North in Spain, 1944, after Franco’s victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation and faces the real world with much chagrin. Post-war Fascist repression is at its height in rural Spain and the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own.
– IMDB

It’s a beautiful film, in language, cinematography and storytelling. I felt a tinge of loss that I did not understand much of the Spanish being spoken; I have an affinity for the language and subtitles don’t do justice to the dialogue, I’m certain. Even still, I loved the dark, gritty and engrossing story.

I’m happy to see that a film of this quality, depth and imagination is receiving a lot of critical and popular success. Too often fantasy films have either been genuinely lacking or outside the vision of critics, so for a film as superbly done as this to become a resounding success is heartening.

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4 comments on “Pan's Labyrinth”

  1. i saw this as well. it was quite chilling throughout. the story amazing. the ending left me rather sad, but beautiful.

    oh and the lip-stitching scene … oh my.. was i cringing..

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