The Movie: Pan's Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Recommendation: Me
Reason: Much as I'd like to say I don't need a reason, I do, and it's that I am in love with fairy stories.
I'm a longtime lover of stories of fae-kind. Snatched babies, spoiled milk, imps who sneak in to tweak the noses of rotten children, courts of sidhe and tuatha that mortals cannot look upon. From David Bowie as the Goblin King to the majesty of Fantasia to Michelle Pfeiffer's questionable depiction of Titania, I crave the presence of magic and faeries in my entertainment. Pan's Labyrinth has raised the bar.
The special effects were above and beyond what I expected. The faun and his host were so real I was less awestruck by him than I was by my own immediate acceptance of his existence. The small fae that attended him were present, not cloying or irritating but simply there. Background and foreground, so to speak. Doug Jones is amazing. His faun has captured my imagination (and his Pale Man will surely stalk my nightmares for some time).
The story was neatly parallel, the struggle for innocence, power and control criss crossing hither and yon from the fairytale landscape to the battlefield that surrounded it. It was an adventure and a horror tale at the same time. Reality was brutal, the fairy landscape less painful but no less frightening. I haven't changed my opinion of the film much-I'm as enthusiastic about it as I was before setting foot in the theater. Second best film of 2006 that I've seen.
-28/365 down, 337/365 to go
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