As I am sure we are all aware, the democratic country we live in is a boon to free speech that we all enjoy taking for granite every day. So, I want to give my appreciation for free speech by not erasing Brian's blog about Pan's Labyrinth. By holding back and NOT destroying an opinion that one may not agree with or just happens to be WRONG we all benefit by opening our minds just a bit more and letting new misguided ideas in. And with that I say "RISE UP people of the world and see Pan's Labyrinth."
O.K. so Brian is not "wrong" because of course how can an opinion BE wrong but still... As you might suppose I enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth much more than Brian. Now to be fair, I read his blog and he mentioned that he had maybe "bought into the hype" of the movie. He had heard a lot about it in advance about it's originality. Now my good friend Brian is based out of New York, a regular movie mecca. I am conversely based out of Omaha.. that city in the bastion of cutting edge art and free thinking. Yoga classes are held in the park while coffee houses speak of new eastern philosophies. I feel sorry for Brian in his po-dunc, back-water, small-minded, hick town that he likes to call "The Big Apple" no thank-you I much prefer my cosmopolitan, eco-friendly, muti-cultural Omaha, Nebraska. Why just today my boss showed me a "funny" Internet clip of a re-arranged Kentucky Fried Chicken sign that read "HILARY SPECIAL, 2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts, and 2 left wings" I chuckled heartily about his keen insights on the Democratic senator. ha ha ha 2 left wings indeed! so clever. The point is that I did not get ANY information on Pan's Labyrinth before I saw it because... well... you know I live in a film gulag. In all fairness we do get some independent movies here in Nebraska the last one was called "Happy Feet".
I was thinking of writing about how much I enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth but now I think I'll just whine about the lack of good film here. No, no I'll stay focused.
Me and Brian just felt differently about that film. I found the back and forth between reality and fantasy extremely well done. The representation of Franco's Spain as seen through the fantasy world of a young girl was very compelling, creating conversations that were provocative. I also found the "reality" story just as good. the suspense of the whether the rebels will be found out or not. I didn't even know they used CGI, that is how good it was. I thought it was all dude's in costumes. O.K. I knew they CGed the legs a few times but all in all a bit of quibble if you ask me.
I can sympathise with Brian. I know what it is like to be expecting greatness and not have it happen, that is why all movie fans should move to Omaha, where you quickly learn to expect nothing, and are always pleasantly sup prised to find you were right. I'm off now to the latest indi film coming out here. I think it's from France, I believe it is pronounce "Grid-loc Gang" hmm I'll let you know.
late
Onibaba is one of the creepiest movies I've seen in years. Set during a civil war of medieval Japan, an old woman and her daughter-in-law live in a small hut amongst a sea of tall grass. They eke out a living by selling the armor and weapons of unsuspecting soldiers who unwittingly stumble into their grassland trap. With aid of halberds and a deep well, the women murder and salvage for millet and sake. The film is sparse on dialogue and instead fills the narrative with expressionistic cinematography and a minimalist sound. In an age of John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Howard Shore it is a blessed release to watch a film that doesn't try to relentlessly steer me with orchestrated Muzak. The wind and clacking of the the long, grass stalks create an unnerving environment where death appears and disappears with startling swiftness.
What most struck a nerve with me was the primal quality of the storytelling- this is not Kurosawa's Japan. The characters are primal in their desires. Starvation, lust and violence drive the narrative from the start. The opening sequence of the film follows the women as they kill a pair of soldiers, strip their bodies, dump them into a hole, scarf a quick meal in their hut, then collapse on bamboo mats. The younger woman's lust for a man sends her racing through the tall grass at night into his arms, despite the terrifying possibility that a demon lives amongst the grass. All the characters are unsettling with their voracious, relentless appetites. A major part of the film's hook is that one never knows who to root- each character is fatally-flawed in more than a few, unpalatable ways. Onibaba reminded me that it is not spectacle that makes memorable movies- it is character. This film has it in spades.
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