I just read these two posts by Scott and felt compelled to reply. I saw both The Proposition and Pan's Labyrinth on the big screen. At the end of each movie I had similar mixed feelings. Both movies have a lot of violence, edging towards gratuitous, to the point where it interfered with my enjoyment of each movie. Both movies achieved what they set out to, were technically proficient and interesting to look at. I thought The Proposition did a little better job of evoking a time and place - but to be fair, Pan's Labyrinth had a harder goal, in that it mixed the realistic with the fantastical.
I think any long time Nick Cave fan, and in particular anyone who completed reading And The Ass Saw The Angel and didn't regret it, would be well served to watch The Proposition. It is definitely more intense than, say, Unforgiven, a thematically similar movie. I can't help but pass along the comment that one person had after seeing The Proposition: "I'm glad I couldn't smell this movie."
As for Pan's Labyrinth, the movie it most reminded me of was Heavenly Creatures. I do agree with Scott that fans of Guillermo del Toro's work will probably want to see his new movie and are likely to enjoy it. I have a harder time recommending it more broadly however.
** January 23 update**
Pan's Labyrinth got nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film.
2 comments:
Are you calling me Siskel?
:)
No way, you have more joie de vivre in one blog post than Siskel did in his entire career.
(FWIW in general I do find myself agreeing with Roger Ebert most of the time.)
Post a Comment