Beauty vs Beast: A Better Pan
Monday, October 12, 2015 at 4:15PM Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast," pitting another dastardly villain against a doe-eyed do-gooder and asking you to choose. We've been anticipating Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak for so very long that it feels crazy it's finally out this week; we're not alone - lean out your window and you can surely hear the Hiddleston fans squealing in the streets. So let's look back at Guillermo's last non-giant-robot non-comic-book-demon based entertainment, the roundly admired if not downright adored Pan's Labyrinth. Can you believe that film is over nine years old? Take a look at a picture of actress Ivana Baquero these days if you don't believe me. Speaking of...
PREVIOUSLY Last week was All About Winslet (not that every week isn't all about Winslet really) with her 40th birthday and the release of Steve Jobs (did you guys see it this weekend? Wasn't it awesome?), and so we faced her off with her foremost collaborator, Leo the second time around in Revolutionary Road. Y'all went with Kate, because of course you did, she's Kate. Said Bryan:
"I love both of them in this movie, but the close up of Kate smoking at the table after Michael Shannon's blow-up is actorly perfection. Maybe the most severe and intense she's ever been. I also love how she threatens to scream if he says another word... I wish more casting directors would take note of her ability at playing unpredictability / mental illness."
Reader Comments (5)
Is Kate assured her 7th nomination.
Those damn grapes indeed. I wasn't a huge "Pan's" fan overall, but I remember being especially angry when Ofelia was told the only rule was not to eat anything and then she immediately ate a thing. No tricks, no hesitation. Fairy tale plotting is one thing, idiot characters are another.
Yeah, that moment actually turned me against the film.
Beautiful score and art direction, though. It should ship that cinematography oscar to Children of Men posthaste.
Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favourite films of the 2000's. Even my brother who doesn't like Foreign Language films loved it.
I think the point of Ofelia eating the grape is that as well as not having had supper, she doesn't always do what she's told, which also happens at the end of the film, when she doesn't let the Faun hurt her baby brother. That is linked to the Doctor in reality, who doesn't obey Captain Vidal and euthanizes the captured soldier instead of keeping him alive for more torture.
Plus without her eating the grape, we wouldn't have had one of the most thrilling scenes in any film I've seen, when the Pale Man awakes and chases Ofelia. I was literally gasping for breath when I first saw it.
As I never do what I'm told, I voted for Ofelia.
Vidal sews his own face up. HE SEWS HIS OWN FACE UP.
Ofelia, plucky though she may be, can't even follow simple instructions.
I may or may not have a thing for hot sadist soldiers, but that aside, this really is no contest. But of course, they both lose to the Pale Man. That shit is TERRIFYING.