Top 15 of the 2000s: #3

Remember when I said I was going to try and finish this list quickly in the previous installment? Yeah...I kind of lied. We've covered pretty dark territory and even though today's entry is somewhat lighter, it's not exactly a feel-good film. We're delving into fairy tale/fantasy today, and though there's plenty of beauty, there's also plenty of horror. Number 3 on the list is...





#3. "Pan's Labyrinth (2006) by Guillermo Del Toro: Though more people have certainly seen both of Del Toro's "Hellboy" films, what he deserves to be known for is "Pan's Labyrinth", his follow-up to the similarly themed ghost story "The Devil's Backbone" (2001). But while "Backbone" stayed strictly in ghost territory, "Pan's Labyrinth" moved into full-blown fantasy, and the results are nothing short of stellar. By beautifully switching between the real and the fantastical, Del Toro gives us a haunting tale of imagination, hope, fear, good, and unspeakable evil, in the context of fantasy and in the very-real Spanish Civil War. And while this film may have significantly fewer fantastical creatures than "Hellboy", they carry more weight and seem to have more thought: the mystic faun who guides protagonist Ophelia on her three tasks, the slimy toad draining the life from the twisted tree in the woods, and most memorably, the terrifying creature known only as the Pale Man, whose eyes reside in sockets cut into his palms. Theirs is a realm filled with both beauty and ugliness, often in the same frame, thanks to the gorgeous set design and photography (and I know I'm in the minority, but I still think that this film deserved its cinematography Oscar much more than the wildly overpraised "Children of Men"). But it's not just the fantasy creatures that leave an impression. The real world sequences can both be soft and light, or dark and grimy with flashes of unsettling violence and cruelty. And what better way to epitomize cruelty than in the Capitan, played with mesmerizing intensity by Sergi Lopez, who firmly deserved a Supporting Actor nomination for creating such a singularly sinister character without ever devolving into caricature. His mere presence, particularly in the latter half of the film, is enough to evoke both fear and disgust. It certainly doesn't hurt that the other major roles are played so well. As Ophelia, Ivanna Baquero brings a lovely doe-eyed innocence to the role that makes her willingness to accept the faun's (Doug Jones) proposal that much more effective, and her fate(s) that much more powerful. Backing her up are Jones, who spends the entire film in different sets of astonishing makeup, and Maribel Verdu as Mercedes, the maid in the Capitan's woodland home who develops a bond with Ophelia. But what's truly so mesmerizing about the film is Del Toro's skill as a director and writer. The film is neither overwhelmed by reality or fantasy, and the characters, though firmly divided in regards to whether they are good or evil, feel grounded in some sense of reality. But his greatest achievement is how he is able to evoke so much without ever going overboard. We can feel the pain of injuries inflicted on characters without being subjected to over-the-top gore, feel tension without cheap tricks, and feel uplifted or heart-broken by the various turns in the story, aided beautifully by Javier Navarrete's score (why exactly did this lose to "Babel"?). As dark as it can be, there remains something beautifully hopeful about Del Toro's often somber fantasy. It is a fairy-tale for adults whose impact can best be summed up by its tagline: Innocence has a power Evil cannot imagine.

Final Grade: A+

Best Performance: Sergi Lopez

Best Scene: