Pan’s Labyrinth

Josh Anker — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 06:19:07 +0000

Pan’s Labyrinth is a journey back into the fairy-tale world of myths and legends, and beasts and monsters that we all knew as children. With exquisitely executed special effects and makeup, it was incredibly believable and detailed. As clear as the storyline was, however, there was still room for personal interpretation, a refreshing and welcome change of pace from movies that practically instruct the audience in what to think.

The movie has subtitles, but no one should let that stop them from seeing it. After a few minutes, I forgot I was really reading them, and I didn’t miss any of the stunning visual aspects of the movie because I had to read the dialogue. I did, however, wonder how much of Guillermo del Toro’s story was lost in translation.

The movie, both written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, wasted no time pulling me in. Even the necessary background â€œgetting the viewer up to speedâ€ scenes and hints of information enthralled me and made me want to know more, and want to know what was going to happen next. The film doesn’t keep you wondering about the world of Fauns, magic, and Ofelia’s (played beautifully by 12-year-old Ivana Baquero) role in it. It pleasingly explains what the magic means and what she must do, and the viewer is always aware of the same information that the main character is, including what trials she must overcome.

Baquero’s co-stars performed their parts with equal skill. Sergi Lopez, as Ofelia’s stepfather, Captain Vidal, played the part of a military man consumed with his duty and driven by his quest for a son to continue his bloodline to utter believability.

By far, my favorite part of the movie was the makeup, costumes, and special effects of the supernatural characters. Pan, who directs Ofelia in the tasks she must perform, was a far cry from Mr. Tumnus. His costume and makeup had him look like he was both real and part of the natural world at the same time. I especially liked how Ofelia described him: He smelled of earth. It’s not every day that the audience gets to hear how a character smells, and it lent a measure of credibility to del Toro’s fantasy world. During one of Ofelia’s tasks there is a scene with more bugs than I’ve seen since I last watched â€œIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.â€ The special effects and set crew get full credit for a great job of production.

With solid acting, characters & sets, and story, Pan’s Labyrinth was an engrossing delve into a mature world of fantasy and imagination; something we don’t get often enough.

This Film is Not Yet Rated

Josh Anker — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:17:03 +0000

Release Date: September 1, 2006

This Film Is Not Yet Rated, is at its heart, a documentary.

That’s a powerful statement, right there. And you’d better pay attention to it, if you use movie reviews to decide what you’ll spend your hard-earned money on. What you may have heard about the movie, and indeed, it’s generated a lot of buzz, is that a private investigator gets hired to get a sneak peek into the MPAA rating system.

Well, that almost makes it sound like a plot, with intrigue and action. Unfortunately for hyped-up viewers, it’s a documentary. Instead of excitement, the movie generated only vague feelings of surprise and disappointment in the rating system. Perhaps if I were a filmmaker I’d be far more outraged.

The film opened my eyes to a good deal of injustice that’s involved in the movie rating system. A group of people whose names are not released to the public rate a film completely arbitrarily. There are general guidelines governing the use of profanity and amount of sexual material, but it is entirely subject to the opinion of “the board.” I was enthusiastic about the plan to expose these anonymous, secret
people, going into it. The movie carefully builds up the MPAA and the 7 major Hollywood studios, emphasizing what media giants they are.

After all that, who wouldn’t want the little guy to win? Rooting for the underdog is the sole source of enthusiasm for This Film Is Not Yet Rated. We want Kirby Dick, the force behind the scheme and the movie, and his undercover investigation to win, simply because his
target is a big company who’s doing something behind closed doors and not justifying it.

Kirby Dick is a filmmaker. It’s clear, as the actual names of the people who decide ratings for movies are paraded across the screen amid much fanfare, that he thinks it’s the coup of the century to publicize their identities. To the casual viewer, however, they are nothing but names and faces.

When he finally succeeds in publicizing their identiies, it’s anticlimactic. Nothing about the system has been changed, there’s no
explosion or living happily ever after, and the movie is over. For an everyday movie watcher, there’s no satisfaction in that. The most redeeming value the movie has to the casual viewer is to shed some light on the rating system. I learned that it focuses nearly entirely on sexual content instead of violence. As a result, the documentary’s subject is entirely sex. It also heavily features only a few movies, including Boy’s Don’t Cry, A Dirty Shame and The Cooler.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated is a must-see if you hate “The Man,” you’re a film student, or you simply want to know the names of the people who work for an unjust company and rate movies.

The Upside: I got to hear about quite a few movies that I’d like to see, and weren’t highly publicized because of their rating.

The Downside: I’ve already seen the best scenes from them, and this movie didn’t have much meaning to me, since I’m not a director.

Final Grade: B

Film School Rejects » Josh Anker

Pan’s Labyrinth

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This Film is Not Yet Rated

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