Del Toro does it again

After doing a focus group in Toronto last night I went to see Guillermo del Toro's newest film, Pan's Labyrinth. I loved one of his other movies, The Devil's Backbone (check it out if you haven't seen it!), and I had high hopes for this one. I was not disappointed.

Amazing characters and sets, and the stories themselves are, well, "deep". Both of these movies focus on the experiences of a child during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and del Toro intermingles these narratives with a heavy dose of mythology and the supernatural. His ability to maintain suspense is almost unparalleled. These movies also contain some horrifically violent imagery, though, so be forewarned if you're sensitive to such things! Pan's Labyrinth had rather strong Christian undertones (i.e., earthly suffering = reward in the afterlife), which is not surprising given del Toro's Mexican Catholic heritage, but he draws on some very neat mythology from all over the place while reworking classic fairytale themes. Maribel Verdu (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Ivana Banquero, who plays the young girl Ofelia, give phenomenal performances. The originality of this story should be seriously aspired to by American filmmakers who can't let go of doing bad remakes of old classics!

See this movie if you can (just bring something or someone to cling to!) - I think it's supposed to be more widely released later this month.