After a number of you mentioned this film in the comments of my Doug Jones post on Tuesday, last night I decided (at long last) to watch it, and I’m so glad I did!
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
A friend of mine has actually been trying to get me to watch this film for years with no luck.
Believe it or not I've wanted to watch it for a long time, but knowing it was subtitled and being somewhat ignorant and lazy I’ve passed it up loads of times for films that I didn’t have to think too hard about.
What an idiot I am!
This is an amazing and beautiful film!
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a Spanish wartime fantasy drama written and directed by Guillermo del Toro (Hell Boy, The Shape of Water).
It stars Ivana Baquerro, Sergi López, Miribel Verdú and Doug Jones (The Shape of Water) among many other talented actors.
This is what it’s about according to IMDb:
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
I honestly don’t know what I can say about this film that will do it the justice it deserves. It’s a wonderful and magical masterpiece of storytelling and I feel ashamed of myself for not watching it until now.
The performances from all of the actors are absolutely superb!
The main star, Ivana Baquerro who was only 12 at the time is mesmerising as Ofelia, whereas Sergi López plays one of the scariest and most sadistic villains I’ve seen in a movie in years, Captain Vidal.
It’s visually stunning, the score by Javier Navarrete is perfect and it’s a two hour escape into a world that you feel you haven’t been to since you were a kid.
I’m forever banging on about how no one makes decent films anymore, well every now and then it seems one slips through to remind us it can still be done.
Del Toro has a real gift and if you’ve seen any of his films you’ll know he’s a visionary writer/director with a totally unique style.
As much as I love The Shape of Water (2017) I think this movie has just replaced it as my favourite of his films.
If you’ve avoided watching this movie because it’s in Spanish, don’t be an idiot like I was. Watch it. I promise you won’t regret it.
Seen it? Let me know.👇