guillermo del toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006)

that Pan's Labyrinth was not everything i thought it would be is not a criticism, but a pleasant surprise. Del Toro's film is full of grotesque, fantastic elements conceived and executed with the flair i've come to expect from him, and draws on magical realism regardless of how you end up choosing to interpret Ofelia's fantasy world, but it's rooted solidly in a very real, very cruel corner of human history that serves as much more than simply a departure point. the spanish civil war is, of course, a backdrop pregnant with historical lessons about the evil that men do (evidenced by Del Toro's previous visit to these surroundings in The Devil's Backbone, which Pan improves upon but still echoes) and the majority of the film takes place within the ugly confines of a real world as horrific as anything in the the fantasy sequences that pepper, rather than dominate, the story. this stunningly mature emphasis on the fantasy as a means instead of an end is enhanced by the way Del Toro works with his themes, which are clearly everpresent yet subtle and occasionally ambiguous; they poke at your heart rather than your head, and as such never overpower the narrative. (i anticipate at least another viewing or two before i get a real handle on many of them.) this is indicative of the film's primary strength: there's a coherence and unity of vision in the storytelling that's sorely lacking in immediate contemporaries. (Darren Aaronofsky's wonderful but frustratingly oblique The Fountain springs to mind.) it's a rich, textured, beautiful film that has a lot on its mind, but it trusts the audience, never forcing its ideas, never wavering as art or entertainment.