Blogs by Bill Johnson
Notes on Pan's Labyrinth and The Good Shepard
1/20/2007 11:03:31 PM
Notes on some recent films.
Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)
posted 1/19/2007
This is a beautifully shot and composed fairy tale for adults. A young girl travels with her pregnant mother to a villa controlled by her new husband, a captain in Franko's forces fighting to eliminate some hold-outs from the Spanish civil war won by Franko's forces. The captain is cruel and determined that his new wife will provide him a son. The young girl rebels and finds himself conversing with a Faun that gives her three tasks to perform before she can regain her heritage as the daughter of the king of the underworld.
The film travels between the underworld and the conflict between the captain and the local resistance fighters and their supporters. In the end, the girl does what she believes to be right at great cost to herself.
In an interview, the director and author of the script, Guillermo del Toro, spoke about the underworld creatures being symbolic of human types (the rich, for example). Characters in a story (human, alien, monster, symbolic) ring true because they have some purpose in a story's world. Characters in a story fail to ring true when a story's purpose is obscure or muted. In Pan's Labyrinth, the characters are suggestive in an artistic, fantastic manner.
The Good Shepard
posted 1/15/2007
This is a thoughtful, slow film about the birth of the CIA and how a life of secrets and duplicity affects the main character played by Matt Damon. Damon plays his character as analytical and emotionally reserved, so the film doesn't gain much emotional traction until he must deal with how his life has affected his wife and now adult son. The plot revolves around who leaked information about the Bay of Pigs invasion and whether a top level Russian defector is who he claims to be.
In the end, Damon's character is left to ponder the cost of his choices.
The structure of the story revolves around several time periods that ultimately gives some answers about Damon's life and answers to some plot questions.
This film would have more appeal to those interested in the birth of the CIA. The story is often more interesting than gripping.
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More Blogs by Bill Johnson
• Notes on The Hunger Games Movie & Other Recent Movies - Monday, June 25, 2012
• Quick Cuts - Capsule Reviews of Current Movies - Wednesday, May 30, 2012
• Quick Cuts - Capsule Movie Reviews - Tuesday, January 10, 2012
• Capsule Movie Reviews of The Skin I Live In, Submarine, Finding Joe - Wednesday, December 14, 2011
• Notes on Splice, How to Train Your Dragon, Ironman 2 - Saturday, June 12, 2010
• When Minor Characters Take Over a Story - Tuesday, December 22, 2009
• Notes on Knowing, Star Trek, and Sunshine Cleaning - Monday, May 18, 2009
• Notes on Watchmen, Twilight, Revolutionary Road - Friday, March 13, 2009
• Notes on Changeling and Ghost Town - Friday, November 07, 2008
• Notes on Cthulhu, Righteous Kill, Burn After Reading - Monday, October 06, 2008
• Notes on Iron Man, Deception, The Ruins, Young at Heart - Sunday, May 04, 2008
• Notes on The Band's Visit, Spiderwick Chronicles, The Eye, The Golden Compass - Thursday, March 15, 2007
• Notes on The Guatemalan Handshake and The Bridge - Tuesday, February 20, 2007
• Notes on Pan's Labyrinth and The Good Shepard - Saturday, January 20, 2007
• Notes on Flags of Our Fathers, The Departed, Stranger Than Fiction - Sunday, December 24, 2006
• Notes on The Black Dahlia, The Illusionist, Pulse, The Descent - Wednesday, September 20, 2006
• Lady in the Water - Sunday, July 30, 2006
• The Da Vinci Code - Wednesday, May 24, 2006
• Notes on Underworld: Evolution, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Narnia, King Kong, Bee Season - Sunday, January 22, 2006
• Notes on A History of Violence, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Flightplan, and Hustle and Flow - Wednesday, October 05, 2005
• Notes on The Brothers Grimm, The Island, Four Brothers, Mr & Mrs Smith, and The Fantastic Four - Sunday, August 28, 2005
• Notes on Willy Wonka, Dark Water, The Snow Walker - Tuesday, August 09, 2005
• Notes on Land of the Dead and Oldboy - Friday, June 24, 2005
• Notes on Batman Begins - Wednesday, June 15, 2005
• Notes on Hitchhikers, Sin City - Saturday, April 30, 2005
• Notes on The Ring 2 - Sunday, March 20, 2005
• Notes on The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - Monday, March 14, 2005
• Hitch - Sunday, March 13, 2005
• The Pacifier - Monday, March 07, 2005
• Quick Cuts - Saturday, March 05, 2005
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