El Laberinto del Fauno, (2007)

It's been a long, long time since I saw a film that gripped me so hard that I had to go see it again the next day. Strangely enough, El Laberinto del Fauno (distributed somewhat inaccurately as Pan's Labyrinth here in the States) had that effect not only on me, but on the friend I saw it with (and the next day we were at the theater again with our boyfriends in tow). In fact, I plan to see this movie again in the near future - I've made several plans with several friends to go see it several times, many of whom have also seen it several times already. So either I'm not the only crazy one, or this film is just that good.

What made this film appeal to me in the first place is the imagination behind it. Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro creates a fantasy world with a simplistic, believable mythology behind it - it's not based on thousands of pages like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, nor does it parallel a major religion like C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Of course, imagination on its own is not enough, but the execution of this imagination is fantastic. The costuming, the special effects, the monsters, the setting, the cinematography - it's almost overwhelming, it's so beautiful.

The film chronicles a few days in the life of a twelve-year-old girl, Ofelia, who is relocated to the Spanish countryside by her stepfather, a captain in the army. Just after the civil war, the fascists are trying to suppress a guerrilla uprising in the surrounding forest, and Ofelia and her invalid mother are staying in the mill that the army uses as its base of operations. Ofelia, a dreamer and a reader, is drawn into a nearby ancient structure and consequently into a world of fantasy that reflects the real life events going on around her. She learns from a faun (the "Pan" of the English title) that she is in fact the reincarnated princess of the underworld who must accomplish three tasks in order to regain her throne. Meanwhile, Ofelia must also suffer the cruelty of her stepfather and try to save her mother and infant brother from the goings-on around them.

The entire story is marked with violence and realism, in both reality and fantasy. It's not easy to watch at parts, especially as it gets pretty gory at times. Still, Ofelia puts all of her faith in her fantasy realm, and the outcome is heartbreaking.

I cried and cried and cried and cried and cried. And I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Baabul, (2006)

There's a point in every movie where the fit hits the shan, if you know what I mean. In an action movie it's when Bruce Willis discovers that the bomb is located in an elementary school. In a romantic comedy it's when John Cusack realizes he's in love with the girl his best friend is about to marry. In a Bollywood movie, it occurs an hour and a half into the film, usually during a happy, upbeat musical number to show the disjunction between drama and danceyness.

The problem with the fit hitting the shan in Bollywood films is that so often the point is unbelievable - and it completely divides the film in half. The first hour and a half might as well be a different movie than the second ninety minutes. That's my primary complaint with Baabul, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan, and FPMBF John Abraham.

I was led to believe that this movie was about the relationship between a father-in-law (Bachchan) and his widowed daughter-in-law (Mukherjee), which I thought could be adequately explored to make an interesting, intelligent film. Baabul, instead, is the same old masala just reheated in the microwave with an extra dash of superfluous conflict. Firstly, it's formulaic - guy and gal fall in love, gal doesn't like old man, gal is convinced to marry guy after a few earnest speeches. Oh, and gal's best friend (Abraham, in a dimple-icious role with not much to do but smile pensively, which is a stretch for Abraham's acting skills, admittedly) is in love with her but disappears after the wedding without saying a word. Everything goes along smoothly and without conflict, much like a Sooraj Barjatya film. After the first guy dies, it's time for best friend to reenter the scene as part of father-in-law's plan to make gal happy. There's a little hubbub about widows being allowed to remarry and whatnot, but everything is resolved with a few more earnest speeches at a predictably dramatic moment.

I may be a little harsh, but I think there was so much potential in this subject matter that could have made such a great movie - it's just that Baabul isn't it. It's as though the filmmakers took the most superficial approach possible. The same goes for the songs and the cinematography. The songs were good, and yet some were ruined by Dumb English Lyrics, and the entire film looked like Technicolor on LSD.

It's a good thing John Abraham is just so darn cute in this movie, otherwise I just may have turned it off in frustration.