Pan's Labrynth

#1 Awesome movie, saw it twice in two days. I highly recommend it :)!

Silhouette Studios

#2 I wholeheartedly agree! I was expecting something a little more childlike, more along the lines of all the other fantasy schlock that's being shoveled onto theater screens -- but the film surprised me with its depth and dark storyline. Not for the kids, that's for sure, but a wonderfully original take on fairytales.

And yes, it would be wonderful to see a game with even a fraction of Pan's thoughtful crafting. I'm so tired of crap!

Anyone remember the game Sanitarium? Not the best in its genre, but it had a clever storyline that drove the game forward, and it still stands out in my mind as a very successful game (in accomplishment, if not sales).

#3 I saw it. Thought it was an awful movie. The storyline was pointless. The violence was gratuitous, obviously included for audience titillation. Wasted two hours and 20 bucks.

#4 Jeez maybe the idea of movie just went over your head :)

#5 It was a dark fairy tale. Not as dark as the pre-Grimm stories that were cleaned up when they created a new genre of children's literature and have since been cleaned up even more to fit with the mores and tastes of a changing world. It was visually fascinating and had an innocent throughline.

I did like the ending with the captain. That made my evening.

#6 I'm with ken. i walked out of the movie because of the totally gratuitous violence.
there was no call for some of that sh*t.

#7 It was bloody, I'll grant you that, and I cringed in several spots. But was the violence really gratuitous? Could the movie have depicted Ofelia's brutal existence without brutality?

I don't think the movie would have been as poignant if Ofelia were merely scrubbing floors for a wicked stepmother.

#8 I found it interesting because in its being a tragedy. The only other tragedies that I remember seeing are The Aviator and Citizen Kane.

Edit: And Star Wars Episode III. I am sure that I will think of others.

#9 Showgirls was pretty tragic... And Cabin Boy. Anything starring Chris Elliott is a tragedy. =)

#10 I was not any more surprised by the violence than I was about the violence in any movie with a war or rebellion element. I did find it interesting that it had more headshots than The Departed. Well, okay...maybe half as many...

#11 The violence in the movie was meant to de-glamorize violence in movies that is particularly why it was so potent. the story is also a tragedy. this is The Wizard of Oz for adults. this is how disturbing TWOO was when you are a kid.

#12

Quote:The violence in the movie was meant to de-glamorize violence in movies that is particularly why it was so potent.

hi anton -
i entirely disagree.
any tradgedy or inglamour-of-violence which the movie managed to portray could easily have been brought across without resort to graphic torture scenes etc. graphic violence has its place in denouncing violence, but i feel Pan's Labyrinth included it merely because it had nothing better to do.

#13 Gratuitous?!
Like Saving Private Ryan?
Good Fellas?

War is Horrific. 'Pan' had me in fear for the well being of the principle characters because I SAW and was SHOCKED by what the Captain was capable of (worse, because he didn't LOOK like a man that would do that sort of thing).

What a bunch of hypocrites. A large number of games are centered around what you would term "gratuitous violence" and you lot jump to defend YOUR RIGHT to make them. Because games are what... ? Oh yeah, an ART FORM.

But the worse part of games is that they're not a commentary on violence, it's just part of the 'gameplay'

When games can do that, make a statement (even a sophisticated observation) or use it set an emotional tension like this movie (at least) attempts to do, then the game industry has arrived. Until then it's decapitation, dismemberment, rag-doll physics, phosphorescent pools of blood and bouncing tits because it adds to... oh yeah right, 'gameplay'.

(I'm sorry to generalize so grossly but I needed to vent :) )

#14 @James

LOL!!! exactly!

Last night I was looking at my wife and brother play World of Warcraft and I thought 'WOW is about getting more wealthy and powerful by killing. and it's a game, so, ok, but if it were real life? WTF?! that's pretty much what any of us would refer to as being ultimately evil'. This was during a talk with my brother about how important it was to me that this Solar System Exploration game we are making contains no violence at all, but it stays about wonder and beauty and learning. I said, WOW is cool, but that's not the kind of game I want to make here. I would also love to make a Space Combat game someday, but this Solar System Exploration game isn't it. And what inspired me to finally decide to make something more than just a selfish murderous game? Watching Pan's Labrynth and hearing a Coldplay CD and thinking that there has to be more to games than killing, stealing and cheating.

#15 I still liked the tubing river game concept..

#16 I do not agree that the violence was graphic. It was used to show how evil, and how much lack of distain the kernel had for human life, and how utter self serving, and centered he was.

Having said that, only 2 or three scenes even approach horror level of violence, and they were SECONDS of film, more like a flash.

All other scenes were done in a more classic Bradbury's, or Hitchcock style, only hinting, cutting away, and barely showing the aftermath.

Unless you are referring to the shooting the solders in the head...just go watch the history channel.

One of the most disturbing, and poignant scenes was when the soldier, sitting there with a broken leg, and apparently could not talk, was questioned by the lead villain, his futile attempts at pushing away the gun, and then the hand left in the "stop" position was a strong STRONG character builder. The lead villain was almost playing with him, and it carried undertones of the futility , and distain, of the "Uprisings" peoples in that timeframe... Please keep in mind the time period here. .these were Nazi supporters, killing there own kind/people. This movie had a TON of political, humanitarian, and social commentary about the thinking, and actions of that time.



The storyline was NOT pointless at all. Its a story of a child, during Nazi occupation, who's life was so could and hard, that only her imagination could take her from the atrocities of her life.

I cant stress how F'ed up this time period was, especially for those in that part of the world... one we don't hear about allot, and most Americans, and English, have no clue about.

She was stuck in the middle of it all. And if you study your mythology, there are a TON of references and points of view taken and associated and embodied by the charters they employed in this movie.

Case in point, "The baby eater". Lots of things in that, temptation, right and wrong, consequences for your actions, and the fears of all children. That charter is one of the oldest in history ..and I'm glad to see him return.

#17 @Allyn: Well-l-l-l-l, let's not downplay it: it was more than a few seconds, and these were not cutaway scenes (unless you count the one where Mercedes cuts away part of someone's face).

There's the scene where the captain bludgeons the peasant's face into mush with the end of the bottle, then shoots the father. There's the battle scene where Captain Vidal's men dispatch the wounded rebels one by one with a bullet (or two, or three) to the head. There's the scene where the Pale Man bites the heads off the fairies, with much blood and stringy bits trailing from his teeth. Carmen's hemorrhaging was not violence, but it was unsettlingly bloody. There's the torture of the captured rebel. The murder of the doctor. The hideous mutilation of Vidal's face. Ofelia gets shot. Vidal gets shot. Etc, etc.

C'mon, face it -- the movie had a lot of carnage. It was graphic, and it was bloody, but I really don't think the movie would have had the same impact without showing some of the brutality.

@Vashner: Tubing? Are you talking about the old Atari game, Toobin'? I actually won a T-shirt by completing that game. =)

#18 "unless you count the one where Mercedes cuts away part of someone's face" = Seconds, and tell me you didn't yell "YEAH!! BITCH!!" (IE: it provoked an emotion, because you had sympathy for the situation, because of the horrors that man did.)

"There's the scene where the captain bludgeons the peasant's face into mush with the end of the bottle" = total of about 4 seconds. and solidified your knowledge of his value of human life.... as noted by his response AFTER looking in the bag.

"There's the battle scene where Captain Vidal's men dispatch the wounded rebels one by one with a bullet (or two, or three) to the head." = No frontal showing there, most were off screen, i have seen worse on the history channel.

"There's the scene where the Pale Man bites the heads off the fairies, with much blood and stringy bits trailing from his teeth." = Hes a monster.... the blood was blue... I don't consider it gore, or overboard. It was part of his charter development, hes hungry. And he has been that way for centuries, look it up. And it evoked a sadness from the viewers, as she was now responsible for the loss of the fauns servants.

(And, BTW, throes were not fairies, they only took that form because the girl had sown them the image, and they changed so she would be more comfortable.)

"Carmen's hemorrhaging was not violence, but it was unsettlingly bloody." = Its was a tragic event. I didn't consider that gore. CSI is worse.

"There's the torture of the captured rebel." = That you do not see. Its only implied, and then shown in the aftermath, but not in an overly "Horror/gore" way. Thats the Hitchcock reference.

"The murder of the doctor." = who was only shot... (x2 or 3, you dont even see the holes)

"Ofelia gets shot." = A true Tragedy is never a happy ending. It was not overboard, once again, it was not "Just because", and it was the first, and last scene. Back to original Grims fairytale here. There was a reason they were dark, and always tragic, before disiney got a hold of them.

Now, im not saying it wasn't violent, but i am saying all of it had a point, and it could have very easily been overdone, but they kept the integrity of the story, and supported the plot, story and charter development, with out crossing the line, it was all nessary to evoke emotion, and to set up your hatetrid of the lead villain.

#19 Haven't seen it yet... was suprised to find out it's all subtitled :( I am a lazy American.. what can I say? :D

#20 The bludgeoning scene seemed longer than the torture scenes from Hostel and more brutal to me, which I actually liked because it was a scene that instantly defined his character. Before that, he was rigid. After that he was a monster who took no blame for the executions. He shifted the blame to his subordinates, leaving it on their consciences. Of course, I found Hostel to be reminiscent of 70's and 80's Italian exploitation horror but more flinching and less edgy.

Also, Grimm's were cleaned up considerably when they created a new market for children's literature (something quite new of since adults were the literate force in the 1800's and children were educated to become literate adults, not literate children; of course, the concept of childhood is completely different today than it was in the period as well). They Disneyfied the tales well before Disney cleaned them up further. take Little Red Cap/Riding Hood, which comes from Charles Perrault salon condemnation but has a history far darker with an Ogre or other nefarious thing grinding the bones of the grand/mother and having Red Cap eat the bonemeal and flesh and drink the blood. She then escapes through her own cunning. No unhappy ending as in the Perrault tale where she is eaten, or later saved by a woodcutter/father/what-have-you.

The character development was extremely simple in the film, rather than complex and layered. Much like a fairy tale. There does not need to be complex character development, but there is a moral which is often overshadowed by the majority of the events within the story. Reading Grimm from cover to cover will provide a taste of complimentary and conflicting moral tales which makes perfect sense since moral tales are situation specific and told for a reason.