Review Of The Movie Pan’s Labyrinth By Guillermo Del Toro
Pan’s Labyrinth is a fantasy drama scripted and directed by Guillermo del Toro. The story of the movie is of the period five years post Spanish Civil War around Francoist Period. It earned numerous international award such as “three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards including Best Film Not in the English Language, the Ariel Award for Best Picture, the Saturn Awards for Best International Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Ivana Baquero and the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form” (Wikipedia). Analyzing the Labyrinth was not a very difficult task. The mythical characters are normally not something that interests me. I did enjoy the movie in a very odd sense.
The close-up shot of Ofelia laying on her death bed was a medium shot after Mercedes fell to her knees and began to mourn. This shot was chosen to focus directly on the death of Ofelia and the impact it had on Mercedes. The shot focus on intensity. The cinematographer was setting the scene for the afterlife of Ofelia. As Mercedes struggled to set herself free the Captain prepared to cause as much harm to her as possible. Mercedes attacked the captain and the angle changed from eye level to a low angle. The director chose this angle to show that Mercedes was superior at that moment. It made the captain seem smaller than her. It showed that she dominated the situation. And it gave a very clear and detailed view of the hideous cut across his face.
The military mean wore blue. The dress that her mother made was a dark green. Majority of the colors all were on the same dark scale. The only color that stood out was the white shirts and aprons worn. The movie almost reflected one of black and white. It was very deep. However, when she went to get the key the bugs were jet black and showed the color of the dirt on her from crawling down below. The lighting key used in Pan's Labyrinth was mostly low key. There were points where there was the use of backlighting, high contrast, and available light. The low key, backlighting, and high contrast lighting key set the tone for drama and mystery.
Guillermo del Toro is passionate on video games and comics. He has a keen interest in Victorian Culture. His worked reveal his interested fields. He takes a stand as a liberal in his political opinion and does not institutionalize social, religious holding. His work on Hobbit film series is internationally admired by international critics and falls under the rated imdb movies.
Overall the actors put on a good performance, the characters played their roles and looked very creepy, the lighting kept the movie dark and mysterious. There were not many vibrant colors in the movie at all. The sound of the creatures and their movements intensified the mysterious mood. The movie in total was good. The look, sound, roles, and the storyline went well together.
