It's Naiomi's birthday today and she wanted to go to a movie. Without any prompting from me she chose Pan's Labyrinth and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ecstatic.
Months ago I'd read an article about it's upcoming release and they had a few pictures of some of the make-up. I was, unfortunately, at work at the time so shrieking with excitement seemed like a bad idea. When I noticed that it was directed by Guillermo del Toro (director of my much beloved Hellboy) it was all I could do to keep myself from collapsing with joy.
But I had to stop myself.
In my world, This much pre-viewing excitement is usually followed by post-viewing disappointment on a soul crushing, earth shattering, mind melting level. It's happened too many times before. I get so worked up about seeing a movie that it's impossible for it to live up to my expectations. I can't shirk all the blame for this, I know that my expectations are too high, but I also know that some of the blame lies also with the movie makers.
This was not the case tonight. Not by a long shot. I can say with all honesty that Pan's Labyrinth not only reached but completely surpassed all of my expectations, easily. It's the first time anything like that has happened in years and I could cry, it makes me so happy.
I could go on at length about how much I loved the story (which I did), about how beautiful in their grittiness the sets are (which they are), and about how perfect the make-up and animatronics are (which they most certainly are), but I'll spare you. All I can say is see the movie.
Oh, and Guillermo, seriously, I think I'm in love. You ever need someone to come and work for you, just call. I'll work for free. Happily.
8 comments:
well i should love to see a show of Pan's Labyrinth.... i have just heard of that movie ... thanks for sharing all those information here... well u can drop by My Blog sometimes too... hope u will find it interesting...!!!
I did find it interesting, tho I'm not a big fan of pop-ups.
Thanks for checking me out over here and thanks for the comments.
Pan's Labrynth has been on my list of movies to see for awhile since I saw the previews & read reviews. I love Guillermo anyway for his consistently great acting over the years but now he's a superb writer AND director.
To be honest, I didn't realize the director was the actor as well until I read a review of 'Labrynth' & they mentioned his acting talent. I'm not sure why I didn't know that cause I'm usually up on all that kind of stuff. And I even saw & loved 'Hellboy'(such a darkly funny movie). C'est la vie, eh?! Can't be up on everything I guess, lol.
I'm really into latin directors so I also really want to see "Children of Men" cause I like the director's "Y Tu Mama Tambien"(seriously sexual movie but an incredible movie).
I saw "Volver" by Pedro Almodovar(my fav latin dir.)& Penelope Cruz is just phenomenal in it! It's a very dark comedy. I also saw "Dreamgirls" yesterday, although I wasn't too sure I wanted to. See my review on my blog.
If you haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth yet, I can't possibly be any more enthusiastic when I say See it! In the theater if you can. Somethings must be seen on the big screen.
Oh, and honest I have tried commenting on you blog, but it won't let me!
That's ok, I later realized that to comment you have to be a registered user of the site, which is crazy. So, sorry about that, I do believe you that you tried. Thanks!
I've had 2 people register so they could comment though, which I appreciated. I do understand though since another blog site to register for is a bit much.
Hey Gwen, how do they do that cool as shit cheek make up effect?
Sorry, I really didn't see this until you pointed it out.
The cheek was done with as a make-up effect while filming and married with a CG effect in post. (The flappy bits of cut skin were a prosthetic piece.)
You can see the plasticine sculpt of the cut cheek if you go to the movie site I linked to and look at the behind-the-sceens stuff, it's in the miscelanea. (I would also recommned listening to Doug Jones' commentary on all the make-up they did one him... he's such a good sport. I love that guy.)
Post a Comment