Year: 2021

      In the Pan’s Labyrinth, a lot of dark matters emerge, for instance the creatures that we don’t see in our lives which we call monsters, the herb that can cure anything, the elf that guides Ophelia. But one the other storyline, the soldiers fighting each other, its color is brighter than the trials given by Pan to Ophelia. And the costumes and the film props are normal, people wear soldier costumes and take pistols just like in real life. This movie is a horror movie, so the horror scenes, the frightening creatures, the setting beyond the imagination is the typical of this movie. Doug Jones has played villains and monsters in many movies.

      The book suggests performances through the concept of gesturality. “Traditions of performance, then, have national as well as individual resonances and need to be borne in mind when analysing a star’s performative style.”(Cinema Studies, Hayward 183). The Pan’ Labyrinth performance is exaggerated because the movie has to display the cruelty of the civil war and the danger of Ophelia’s adventures. Which stands out is the performance of the Pan, the mystery god from the underworld. The expression and movement of Pan is so real to the audience because it is not special effect but real man in a real suit. One specific detail is that when Ophelia broke the rule and chose not to give out her brother’s blood. Pan seemed disappointed but relieved. The star performance given by Doug Jones really put it together, he displayed a gentle monster. He is a outstanding monster player. He is also the player of the water monster in Guillermo’s another movie The Shape Of Water. A real master of action acting since monsters usually don’t have dialogues.

      Pan’s Labyrinth is a horror movie. It’s typical for horror movies to set dark depressing environment. Going back to the two sets of storylines, the scenes in this film are very dark indeed, not just the normal civil war storyline or the fantastic adventure storyline. The director used dark scenes to heighten the depressing atmosphere of the whole film. It’s like a harbinger of the movie’s sad ending. I think what’s unusual about this movie is that there are no reversals, and usually movies have all kinds of reversals, like sadness to joy or vice versa. The film doesn’t give the audience that element, and the dark scenes are used all the way to the end, as if Ophelia’s fate is doomed and will not change. Cinematography of this movie sets the tone of the movie. For instance in the Pan’s Labyrinth, the dark scenes has already told the audience that this movie will be a tragic.

In A Knights Tale there are multiple segments that stick out. The beginning where you are seeing Wills current part and the loss of their current knight. Then the portion where will takes his place and wins and convinces the others to go along with him in falsifying his identity. There is then his winning sequence where you see his tournament after tournament winning. And then of course the scene where he meets the girl, wins the girl and then is exposed by the other knight, he returns home to his father. Then prince Edward saves him and knights him as well. A lot of the segments also go along with the dramatic arc. The film is building up to Will winning the girl, going back home to his father and then of course being found out who he truly is which is going to ultimately happen where he came from. So the actual drama of this movie isn’t to unexpected it follows the arc.A Knights Tale is a story, it has all of the makings to be a story and follows the drama arc. We see a poor man left with no choice but to steal and identity to be able to earn money and survive. He always had the dream of becoming a knight but did not come from royal blood so his father sent him away at a young age to assist a knight with his requests, this was the best his father could offer him. Everything leads up to Will becoming a knight and in the process of his knighthood be finds a lady who he falls in love with. There is competition though for her another knight has made arrangements with her father to wed her but her heart belongs to Will. The final tournament is in Wills home town and that is where he is exposed for being an imposter and not a true knight which is punishable by death. But Prince Edwards saves him and then knights him as well so his dream becomes a reality and he gets the girl. 

Garden State moves through very distinctive sequencing. The movie starts with the coming home experience Andrew Largeman Experiences with the death of his mother. His mother’s death is what moves our character from Los Angeles back to New Jersey. This first sequence is vital to show why we are back home to begin with. The following sequence can be summed up by trying to move on. Largeman is now trying to experience life as well as possibly mourn the death of his mother. This sequence includes hanging with friends and starting his relationship with Sam.

The film broken in parts it would be, funeral, attempting relationships, romantic relationships, life choices. The beginning of the film is experiencing the funeral through very low emotions, the attempting relationships shows Largeman trying to be a human a step out of his box of working non stop to pay for LA’s expensive small living spaces. After Largeman experiences a new kind of relationship with Sam which is able to bring out new emotions as well as allowing him to be more open and talk. Life choices represent decisions, this included falling back into life’s pattern or breaking from it and trying something new.

Garden State represents an argument between Andrew and his Father Mr. Largeman. The two seem at odds at the way in which they believe Andrew should be carrying out his life. They both obviously hold resentment for which his mother ended up in a wheelchair and quite possibly the reason for her death. I would consider to be a Poem in which tells a somber story about the need to experience life. The colors of the film are very dull or almost dingy. One element to Garden State is the pale green that often companions the shots. The soundtrack is what most people think about when experiencing the movie. This can be represented with the way the music is layered throughout the film.

The couple living in the quarry in a house boat at the end of a large home represents an avant-garde . The couple is living much differently than most couples, and while they seem to have little, together have more than most who experience life with an itemized or monetary approach to living and success.

The film presents time in which it is expected to be moving quickly and understood. We don’t see sleeping other than when the film first starts and one point when Largeman wakes up from being passed out at a party. However we are suppose to believe Braff’s character falls in love with Natalie Portman’s “Sam” within the time he is home. With very little representing the passage of time one could find their connection at the end of the movie hard to explain from the short period of time actually together.

The sequences of this film is very intriguing, hinting at the cruelty of the civil war and the terror of dictatorship all the time. I have watched this film for three times with a heavy heart, and every time I will sigh. Clearly, the film’s main theme is “a cruel tale of cold reality interlaced with a beautiful little girl’s fantasy.” There is no underground kingdom, no afterlife, no hope of a better life. Ophelia was robbed of her precious life by the horror of the heart and the cruelty of reality.

The tree is dying from a very cunning Angle, one left and one right, like two forces to pull it apart, the left wing coalition and the right fascist regime will break the withered old tree, a symbol of the tear of national ideology and the decline of national strength. Like the battle between the guerrillas and Vidal, the civil war has devastated the country, which is no longer as vibrant as a normal tree, but as dead as a lightning bolt that has split it in two.

Another standout sequence in the film is the magic grass that Phan gave Ophelia, La Mandragora. It does not need Ophelia to pay a huge sacrifice, only need a little ox and a few drops of blood, can help Carmen to breed a new life. He is not aggressive, and in such a depressing film, there is a moment of relief, but only for a few minutes. What happens next is even more brutal. No one is on Ophelia’s side, no one believes him, the herbs are thrown into the furnace, and the mother dies in childbirth. Her father thought nothing of her life and only cared about the boy he was going to have.

This is not so much a dark fairy tale，but as a reflection on the national conditions of Spain at that time. While it’s letting people hit to abandon innocence, it tells people to grow up as well.