Pan's Labyrinth

So let me ask all of you a question - was the fantasy world more than just a fantasy? Was it real?

I lean 90% towards thinking it's real - I'll tell why after a few more chime in.
 
i dont think you guys got the twist ending. she's in reality and we're in the fantasy world. every full moon on the third Sunday of the year can only then we look into the mirror and see what we really look like....

pan.jpg
 
But, it wasn't her imagination that her mother was better with the mango root in the milk under her bed. That really happened, which leans me toward believing that the fantasy world was real...and as FilmBoy points out, maybe more real than the world we live in.
 
Right . . . but that doesn't mean the mandrake root caused her to get better. Maybe in Ofelia's mind it did, but that doesn't make it so. It also doesn't mean that even if the mandrake root helped, she actually got it from the faun.

Now, there was the one shot where it was possible that the Captain heard the faun speaking, but in his POV shot, there was nothing there.

I'm pretty sure it was just her imagination. Otherwise, the story would have ended with her death . . . but it didn't. It ended with the Captain's death. Which is why I think there's a case to be made for the "real world" story being the actual throughline of the movie, and her fantasies being a subplot.
 
I lent equal weight and reality to both the human world, and the fairy world in the story. Partly because of the way the fairy world adapted itself to Ofelia's expectations (like the little flying fairies who change form to appear more like what Ofelia presumably believes a fairy "ought" to look like).
 
to add, are we talking about actual reality or movie reality? In movie reality no way, but in actual reality it is quite possible (as he spews out vulgar drenched sarcasm.)
 
It looked great in my oppinion.....a bit distasteful if your ask me. Who wants to watch a little girl die?? anyhow it's all a matter of difference heh
 
dlang said:
It looked great in my oppinion.....a bit distasteful if your ask me. Who wants to watch a little girl die?? anyhow it's all a matter of difference heh
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You should read some shakespeare sometime ...

:)
 
Hey s1rrah,

I love how, earlier in this thread, you compared some of the big summer films to masturbation and then immediately proceeded to describe Pan's Labyrinth as a "master stroke". :)
 
THX1138 said:
Hey s1rrah,

I love how, earlier in this thread, you compared some of the big summer films to masturbation and then immediately proceeded to describe Pan's Labyrinth as a "master stroke". :)
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Funny. I started discussion of this film at one of the computer overclocking forums I frequent and ... well, nobody got it.

Interesting how the more metaphoric mind/person more common to a film making community picked it up but my fellow hardware geeks missed it completely.

In fact, here's a bit from that thread, you'll find it funny I'm sure:



... from other forum BEGIN QUOTE ...

Originally Posted by Malaziel
Did he not say in his post that he liked every single one of those movies? He didn't say at all that other people shouldn't like those movies. He was saying that he finds it disappointing that more movies with actual gravitas and meaning beyond the obvious are not being made.
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And it's like nobody even noticed the word play:
Originally Posted by S1rrah " Not to diss the above mentioned movies ... I liked them all, but for the most part it was like masturbation ... you know what's coming and eventually it does. But Pan's Labyrinth ... I just have to say ... is quite a master stroke by Guillermo De Toro ... "
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...

In other words ... yes, they all are forms of escapism (masturbation) ... yet Pan's is ... well ... somewhat more of a masterful, er ... uh ... stroke.

(keeping it real)

smile.gif


... from other forum END ...



A good eye you have sir ...

:thumbsup:


 
MOVIE STUNTS said:
And a mighty fist you have!, um... You might want to wipe that off the keyboard.... Ewww.
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Ack. So much for metaphor and word play ...

:)

Speaking of mental masturbation ... I just watched another Guillermo De Toro joint ... "Hellboy" ...

A whole other order of beast when sat next to Pan's Labyrinth, ... but I have to say, this particular directors eye for color and *especially* for well designed costumes and sets is rather evident.

I'm beginning to appreciate his stuff more and more.

I think he also did Blade II ... which again, like Pan's, Hellboy, etc. leans towards oversaturated neutral colors and a rather fine sense of texture and contrast in the sets.
 
s1rrah said:
Ack. So much for metaphor and word play ...

:)

Speaking of mental masturbation ... I just watched another Guillermo De Toro joint ... "Hellboy" ...

A whole other order of beast when sat next to Pan's Labyrinth

I'm beginning to appreciate his stuff more and more.
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You should see The Devil's Backbone, the "companion" film to Pan's Labyrinth.
 
deedive said:
i think the devils backbone and pan'e lab have alot in common. i like the both.
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From what I've read in the past two days, they are thematically very similar. Also, similarly disturbing because of it.

Another thing I've found is that the majority of reviewers give it fairly high marks.

I haven't been able to find it yet but hope to view it sometime this week.
 
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