Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is dominated by an ensemble of powerful actors playing roles that seem tailored to them. Prefaced by a short children’s story the movie initially focuses exclusively on Ofelia but quickly widens it’s scope to encompass the conflict between the rebel and fascist forces taking place concurrently. Not only did the two narrative’s effectively avoid distracting from each other, it is the interplay between two very different extreme’s of story, the fairy tale and the rebellion, that combine to amplify the viewer’s investment in the film. Being immersed in what seems like a child’s fairy tale and then being ambushed by the brutalities of the Franco army serves to sharpen the modern viewer’s dulled ability to feel horror.
Benicio Del Toro created a movie with particularly striking aesthetics in every regard, and his subtle manipulation of light is an especially powerful element of an already very well developed mise-en-scene. One of the most interesting subjects of manipulation was the forest. The set was rich and beautiful enough that after all the treatment given it the forest nearly qualifies as a character of it’s own. It is not an active character, but it has just as much impact on the quality of the movie as any of the actors. When meant to emote off sadness the trees are dull and monochromatic, the light is grey and the rain is falling. When joyous the landscape assumes the aspect of the perfect summer day, with wind you can nearly feel through the screen and nature bathed in golden light. The mise-en-scene is of much more importance in a faery tale inspired film, expressing the absolute extremes of good and evil that such stories require, and the forest serves it’s role magnificently.
Two of Pan’s Labyrinth most striking features are the character and costume design. Each actor seems to fit their role perfectly, and a large part of that is established through their outfits, and through their entire design in the case of the supernatural characters. The faun’s design in particular I thought was notable. It manages to be both affectionate and terrifying without obvious changes in form. Made up of what seem to be hunks of earth and roots entwined and enmeshed throughout it’s body, crowned by a face that could be made up of bone for all the colour and texture it possesses, it could easily be an unvaryingly terrifying presence, yet it manages to successfully straddle the line between the uncanny valley and an empathiable human physique. It’s more difficult to comment on the non-CGI altered actor’s costumes, but they seem totally authentic and match the personality of the character’s they adorn.
It is unclear as to whether or not the magic and fantastic creatures Ofelia encounters during the movie are products of her imagination or real, but it does seem like they were more her escapist fantasy than anything else. It is made painfully clear throughout the film that she wants to be elsewhere, and every magical event could be explained through quite probable non magical logic. The lack of evidence to the contrary, coupled with the generally sad tones of the film are enough to push me towards the notion that none of the fantastic exist outside her head. For me the last nail in the coffin was that the film returned to Ofelia's face, bleeding and bloody, right before she died, after she had imagined herself in the underworld.

Run Lola Run-Oliver

Run Lola Run utilized masterful editing. My favorite features were the flash montages made up of pictures implying the variable possible futures of people tangentially affected by Lola and Manni. As Lola interacted with certain characters the screen would be filled with a quick series of photographs which implied their fate, and when she interacted with them again in nearly the exact same manner in one of the re-runs a different montage would be shown, illustrating the butterfly theory mechanisms of fate upon which the film is built. I appreciated the specific manner in which the montages were formed and limited. With only five unconnected pictures each shown to you for maybe a second or a fraction thereof the movie still manages to implicitly convey a great deal of information, and being that the shots immediately following each future montage are of Lola running down streets without much interaction allow the viewer time to digest the images and stories contained without rushing.

Run Lola Run - Erin

The 1998 masterpiece film Run Lola Run, both written and directed by Tom Tykwer, provides multiple and very different perspectives on how one day or more specifically - a period of 20 minutes could have gone. Although foreign films with subtitles tend to be a bit distracting, as the viewer can not focus completely on the visual details, this film provided many interesting things to notice in sound alone that could be understood despite the language barrier. One instance in particular is when Lola and her boyfriend are on the phone and they keep repeating "the bag" back and forth to each other. This was to help the audience realize the initial importance of the bag and its contents as well as perhaps foreshadow that the only solution was to get the bag back (as we see Lola's boyfriend do near the end of the film). Another example is when the frame is split the first time just before Lola's boyfriend robs the store. Lola is seen on the right side of the screen and her boyfriend on the right. Interestingly, the clock is at the bottom of the screen portraying the fact that it is constantly moving as they are. As we see this happening, Lola's voice is calling out to her boyfriend. However, this time it does not seem as frantic as it had been on the phone. The viewer or in this case listener can really concentrate on Lola's speech, what that means in the situation and how that can relate to the rest of the story. Visually this film was most pleasing as well. The sequence of shots that appear in slow motion throughout the film as Lola drops the phone and looks at the clock really catches the viewer's attention. In addition, the attention to detail was impeccable. When we first see Lola's father, he is sitting down which shows his lack of superiority in the situation. This again may foreshadow that he will have little to no power in the future. In the second portrayal of the 20 minute countdown we see his sense of power decrease as he is robbed 100,000 notes and held at gunpoint by his own daughter. Although later the audience seems to come to peace with him, he is still in a situation where he even further looses his desire power and is very vulnerable - he is very hurt in an ambulance.

I really enjoyed this film.