Pan's Labryrinth

Pan's Labryrinth is a dark fairy tale involving a fantasy world of mythical creatures intertwined with the harsh reality of WWII era atrocities.Ofelia ,the movies' protagonist and a big fan of reading fairy tales so much so that she is finally pushed into inventing one in her head so that she may survive the abuse that she witnesses and experiences.The movie utilizes a wonderland of prosthetics,puppeteers and computer animation to insert the viewer into Ofelias world.The long shots through out this movie pan the labryrinth and forest with such spatial enormity we are able to see miles in a direction.We are visually saturated with detailed information and need no dialogue , for the scenery. is the dialogue.This film played out on a stage, in a theatre,would be very limiting.The vast space displayed on film ,would be unachievable on a stage limited by dimentions.I dont believe the forest and labryrinth would be as impactful live as they are in this movie,especially when viewed as an aerial shot.

Crash

"Crash" is truly a collision of director Paul Haggis realistic style and the superb acting abilities of a star-studded cast.The lengthy takes that permit us to buy into the various characters' drama.The plethera of players cover all walks of life,from the wealthy ,to the working class,all the way to the drug addict.As if it not enough to have all classes represented,we become privy to eachs character deficits and assets.Just when we think we have a dirty cop figured out,we witness a touching scene of cop tenderly attending to his aging fathers late night ,prostate difficulties.We view a verbal assault between a married couple the likes of which ,can only be discribed as injurious,especially to some whom may have had such an experience.The emotional layers, peel away,incident by incident.The pointed ,slap in the face dialogue,accompanied by the same camera style leaves us emotionally spent.The chopped up and then linked together like a chain drama commands our rapt attention.The photogenicity of the chosen actors faces must have been a factor in the casting of the characters for the director relies on the expressiveness of faces to convey a variety of human vulnerabilities.The low register of the persian immigrants' voice coupled with his dark expressive eyes clue us in to his frustrations with the cultural discrimination that he experiences.In the end, the movie is about the life lessons we all learn from our many and continous mistakes,and hope for future decisions.

District 9

District 9 opens a door into our own psyche,without revealing it has ever done so!The story is revealed to us in the style of a documentary,with real people speaking , not actors,so we are led to believe.We are drawn in by breathless newscasters divulging unbelievable information.The movies' premise is that an alien spaceship is stalled over the city of Johannesburg with the creatures inside.The films protagonist is introduced as government official"Wickus" .He is assigned the job of care and containment of aliens,and attempts to do so in a humane manner.The audience is astonished by Wickus lack of insight or inexperience dealing with these matters,as though nothing has been learned by S.Africa's history with apartheid.Clinton Shorters' award winning score drives home the fear,urgency,and dispair the city feels with his rhythmic beat.The score evokes these emotions in the viewer,emphasizing the ethereal feel of the information we are hearing.Clinton Shorter artfully combines the newscast with the dramatic by way of two scores woven together with each becoming more prominent as the storyline dictates.The solo vocalist sings appropriately "The mysteries of life",in an indigenous African language.The desired effect being haunting and exotic,a mirror of our response to the storyline.Later in the movie we hear low register brass melody,accented by deep percussion,and punctuated with a militaristic marching beat ,building to a climactic crescendo.This film,sans score,would not be the thought provoking 111 minutes that it is.The accompanment of the music amplifies and completes every frame.The movie, at some point sinks into the category of unbelievable,and for me just becomes faux!