Back into ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’
Guillermo del Toro’s masterful “Pan’s Labyrinth” is one of the best films ever made from a child’s perspective, not least because it refuses to infantilize the audience. Is this deeply entrancing movie a historical war drama, a gothic horror-fantasy, or both? Remarkably, Del Toro doesn’t say. Instead, he casts us headlong into a world where the evils of fascism have many faces, and where historical trauma runs so deep that it takes on the power of myth.
It’s been 10 years since “Pan’s Labyrinth” cast its spell over critics and audiences, and the intervening decade has done nothing to blunt or diminish its power. Now available in a gorgeous new edition by the Criterion Collection, the film will screen Oct. 28 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and rightly so: Images this stunning (Guillermo Navarro won an Oscar for his cinematography) deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Bring an extra set of eyes if needed.