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Jan 13 08 5:40 PM
I've been reluctant to post my thoughts on the film. Still trying to mentally articulate why I was disappointed with it. Certainly the production is exquisite in almost every aspect, and I'm very pumped to learn that this is director Juan Antonio Bayona's first feature length film because that bodes well for our genre if he sticks with it. Acting is good to great (Belen Rueda is outstanding). But... the story tries to do too much. There are several ghost story motifs presented (and resolved) one after another -- what is the motivation for the ghosts? what is so special about the one ghost with the very unsettling gunny sack mask? what is the relationship between the ghosts and the son of Rueda's character? As the answers are rolled out, a number of false crescendos occur (some of which are VERY spooky and chilling) that move into yet another build-up, and another, and... For me, this had the effect of diluting an extremely powerful opening sequence in which the 7-year-old boy, who's an only child (unknowingly adopted, unknowingly sticken with HIV) and prone to creating imaginary friends, find a few more in a seaside cave and invites them home. Really nice, really ominous beginning. Then we find that there is a mystery within a mystery, a potential for a considerable amount of built-up rage, but... the payoffs don't match the buildups because there's always a new buildup coming up behind. I liked the film, but I didn't love it. I wish the Peter Pan motif was given a meatier and nastier treatment (anyone who's read Christopher Golden's Straight On Until Morning knows how this particular motif can be twisted into effective horror). I can see why del Toro has attached his name to it -- the emotional levels dealing with childhood relationships found in this film and Pan's Labyrinth are well-nigh overpowering. Bayona knows how to drive a genre vehicle, but he takes too many backroads to reach his destination. ... Reed
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