Hola y Buenas Dias!
Recently I have started learning Spanish; this gave me a fantastic excuse to re-visit my favourite Del Toro film, Pans Labyrinth! After watching the film I felt so inspired that I then watched the other two Del Toro films from my three piece collection, The Devil’s backbone and Cronos!
All three films are good, Pans Labyrinth is amazing beyond words, The Devil’s backbone is an artistically shot horror and the concept of Cronos is superbly unique. My intense interest for Del Toro hatched when I watched The Oprhanage (2007), a film that was directed by Juan Antonio Bayona but had a great amount of input from Del Toro.
Del Toro’s input in this film is extremely obvious to see! It is always a good sign when you can watch a film and really see a directors stamp on it. I thought to myself whilst watching the Orphanage that it seemed very ‘Del-Toro-ish’ before I even read about his input online. A similar thing happened with a recently released dark fantasy/horror film I watched call Mama although I knew about Del Toro’s input before the cinema trip; it was still blatant to see!
The Orphanage mirrors Del Toro’s horror debut The Devils backbone (2001) in many ways, the main aspect being the film is based largely around orphans. The Devils backboke is shot in an old school way with long, tense stretched out scenes and mostly dark and dull colours are used. The Orphanage is shot with a more modern style and the plot allows the scenes to become tenser as the mystery of the story is more ambiguous and therefore more nerve wrenching.
The Devil’s backbone is shot in a very dark and gothic style but the plot of The Orphanage is much darker and more emotionally evoking. It’s although The Orphanage was a chance for Del Toro to help create a perfected version of his early work, this could very well be why he was so willing to double the funding for the film himself! The Devil’s backbone and The Orphanage have their similarities, which one is better is hard to say but they are both well worth a watch!
Some say The Devil’s backbone is a partner to Pans Labyrinth. This is because they have some important similarities that establish Guillermo Del Torro as, for me, an auteur of film! Both films are set during the Spanish Civil War and both films explore a fantasy in which the child protagonists get lost in to deal with the harsh realities of the war. This opens up interpretation in the plots for both films although it’s clearer to see in Pans Labyrinth! The debate is around whether the fantasy aspect of the film is real or an escape for the children. This is an example of escapism inside of escapism, the first layer of it being us (the viewer) and the second the protagonist.
This is perhaps why I love both films and this is also perhaps what makes Del Toro’s style of directing so distinctive and enjoyable. The way he brings the fantasy characters to life in Pans Labyrinth is stylistically stunning! Maybe my views are a little biased as dark fantasy is my most favourable genre of film but the creativity he inflicts into the characters and settings of the film really allow the viewer to become lost in the escapist world he constructs.
You might hear people say Pans Labyrinth is a dark fantasy version of Narnia for adults; I don’t like this statement as it’s MUCH MUCH better than that! Although I suppose it is quite a good way of describing it to people to give little away!
Del Toro’s first film Cronos (1993) is an interesting take on Vampires or what I should really say is Vampire. Whether you enjoy the film or not at least you can say it’s better than those prancy dancy pretty boys from Twilight. The only negative thing about the film is how annoying Ron Pearlman’s Spanish accent is but I suppose that’s being pikcy! The film however, does set Del Toro up in his use of fantasy worlds and gives you a first insight to his vast and incredible imagination.
The only worrying thing about Del Toro is he is about to release a sci-fi film called Pacific Rim which from the trailer looks like Robots fighting sea creatures. Let’s hope this isn’t going to be one of those films that are entirely sold on special effects. You can’t blame him for trying something new but rumour has it that he rejected directing the next Star Wars, which one is riskier?
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