Pan's Labyrinth, Full Frontal, Death of a Salesman, & The Pawnbroker

Pan's Labyrinth was amazing and one of the best films I've seen this year. Admittedly, I'm a tremendous Guillermo Del Toro fanboy (I even don't hate Mimic), so take it with a grain of salt. However, having seen all of his films, this is his best. A political fable of trying to deal with Franco's Spain and a dissolving family, an obsession with fascism and order versus a world ruled by fairy tales, and some seriously strange creatures. I wish I had seen Spirit of the Beehive first, but I will just have to check that out at some point soon. Del Toro has said that it was an influence, and if he says it's good, I'll have to check it out. Problem is is that I own it, so there's so much less impetus to actually watch it, opposed to something on my DVR or computer or TV. Damn the world, I have too much media to consume! Anyway, Ofelia is a sort of Alice in Wonderland, made fairly explicit with the fancy dress she is given, a dark green version of the famous light blue one from the Disney version, dealing with her sort of fantasy world at the same time as her new horrible existence at the mercy of her stepfather. Who is truly the embodiment of evil, as all stepfathers in films are, or at least appear to be. Can anyone think of a film that has a stepfather that isn't evil or at least isn't portrayed as evil at some point?

Full Frontal doesn't work. Well, the Nicky Katt as Hitler sections work, but I didn't like any of the other characters, and the digital camera work was distracting for most of the film. Actually, I did like Brad Pitt's performance. But not much else. I guess that an experimental Soderbergh is completely hit and miss. Who knew? Besides everyone who has ever seen more than one of his experimental films. I did like the little Limey shout-out, since I love that film. Too bad the rest of it was so up-and-down. And I never need to see David Duchovny's fake erection ever again.

Death of a Salesman is a movie I'd already seen, apparently. Strange. How did I forget John Malkovich as a youngster playing football? I have no idea. It's good, as you'd expect from Malkovich and Hoffman. I watched it back in high school. So it's been around 10 years. There are lots of movies I don't recall from 10 years ago, even if I remember watching them. Most of those are war films though.

The Pawnbroker was really depressing. I have to salute the film for being made, as it's all about the horrible effect of the Holocaust on the survivors. That it is also the first film to get a production code seal while showing naked boobies just adds a bit of historical interest to the film. Historical boobies! I don't know, I just felt goofy. Something, anything, to make the film less depressing. Seriously, a very good, very sad film. There are just some things I don't want to know how to deal with. And the horror of living through something like the Holocaust is one of them.