Very Brief Film Reviews: Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Pan's Labyrinth / El Laberinto del Fauno (The Labyrinth of the Faun)
2006
Guillermo del Toro (director, writer)
Starring Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez

This film deserves every glory it won: it is beautiful, it is wildly imaginative, it is captivating, and it is ruthlessly painful.

It is physically brutal, set during the Spanish Civil War, and emotionally brutal; it is frightening in many different ways, but it gives as much as it takes, and it is unrelentingly brilliant. It has a vocabulary, visual and thematic, that encompasses nearly every major work of children's fantasy of the last century, and not just books: Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Narnia, the Labyrinth (of course), the Neverending Story, a dozen others. The cinematography and special effects are hauntingly beautiful and well-woven.

But this is not a children's movie. This is a dark and powerful film, and you should absolutely see it but know that it is not a pretty story.

In Spanish with subtitles. Rated R with good reason.


IMDB Link: Pan's Labyrinth

Very Brief Film Reviews: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption
1994
Frank Darabont (screenplay, director), Stephen King (story)
Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. A former banker is sent to the brutal Shawshank Prison for life for the murder of his wife and her lover. He insists on his innocence but no one, from jury to fellow inmates, believes him. Despite the atrocities being committed around him, and to him, he fights to survive and to maintain his sense of self.

Placed in Maine in the 1940s. This is a violent, painful movie, and not for the squeamish, but it is an incredibly beautiful story, tremendously well-written and well-acted. It was nominated for seven Oscars but for some reason won none.

Highly, highly recommended.


IMDB Link: The Shawshank Redemption