Possum Holler

For those of you who have not heard, I did not get the job in California. However, they do want to keep me in mind for another position that they will be looking to hire at the end of the year which could be a good opportunity depending on what happens between now and then. And now for this week's reviews:

El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Possum’s Grade: A-

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion about this movie. Judging from the trailers, it would seem to be an animated, fantasy story, though little else is known. The New York Times has even done a piece about parents who have taken their children to see it, despite it’s ‘R’ rating, thinking it was a family film. The word from people who had actually seen it ranged from “amazing” to “gruesome and troubling.” So, of course I had to find out for myself.

Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of a young girl named Ofelia who is moving to a military camp with her mother who has recently married a Spanish captain and is pregnant with his son. It is 1944, and though the Spanish Civil War has been over for a few years (I spent today researching Spain’s history on wikipedia), the maquis resistance to Generalisimo Francisco Franco (still dead) is prominent in the mountainous areas.

Ofelia adores her mother but frustrates her when she becomes overly involved in the fairy tales that she loves to read. Little does she realize that her daughter may be fairy tale royalty. Once Ofelia and her mother arrive at the military camp it does not take long for us to see that Captain Vidal, her mother’s husband, is a truly evil man. As the pregnancy takes it’s toll on Ofelia’s mother’s health, she becomes close to a servant of Captain Vidal’s who is also an undercover aide to the rebels living in the hills.

While living in the camp, Ofelia is visited by a fairy that leads her into a labyrinth in the forest where she meets a faun. The faun tells her that she possesses the soul of the long, lost princess of the underworld and that she must complete three tasks in order to return to her kingdom.

The movie then alternates between these fantasy world tasks that Ofelia takes on and an all-too-brutal reality. This isn’t to say that the fantasy sequences are an escape. Ofelia must encounter terrifying characters that are both human and non-human.

In the end we are left to wonder whether this fantasy world is a figment of the girl’s imagination or her real destiny. This distinction might just determine whether the ending is happy or tragic.


Idiocracy
Director: Mike Judge
Possum's Grade: B

The studio pretty much killed this one when it was released to theatres because they were scared of it. After watching it on dvd last week I can kind of see why. It is the most pretentious and heavy-handed movie I've ever seen. It casts a condescending glare on a large population of Americans and suggests that we are a nation that will become progressively stupider.

All that said, it is the funniest movie of the year save for Borat, and if you can handle the vulgarity it is quite a riot.

Coming reviews:

As time permits, I will write about the other movies I've watched recently (United 93, World Trade Center, Volver), the movies that I currently have from Netflix (Sherrybaby, Running With Scissors), and/or the movies I want to see in theatres soon (Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Children). I also would like to revisit The Departed. An ambitious schedule leading to the Oscars as things get busier at work, but I'll do my best!