More than Meets the Eye.

Film: The Skin I Live In
Year: 2011
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Written by: Pedro Almodóvar and Agustín Almodóvar, based on the novel 'Tarantula' by Thierry Jonquet

Starring: Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes, Jan Cornet, Roberto Álamo, Eduard Fernández, José Luis Gómez, Blanca Suárez.
Running time: 124 min

I'm always getting judged for the movies I like and the movies I watch. That's why I shy away from the question "what's a good movie?", unless I really know the person enough to predict how it'll all turn out for them. Otherwise, people will just look at me and go "you must be really stuffed in the head." The Skin I Live In is exactly the kind of film that I won't be phoning home about. But it isn't a film that left me totally indifferent. Far from it, in fact. I can see that a whole lot of other people would separate the strangeness of the main twist and the film itself. Yes, the twist comes as quite a shock. It's the kind of twist that I had to wonder whether it was successful because it was weird, or if it was just plain weird. However, there's a lot more to this movie than meets the eye. Which I guess is kind of the point of all the whole film.

"Look in my eyes. Look at my face. Remember me, please."

Film: Biutiful
Year: 2010
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Written by: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Armando Bo and Nicolás Giacobone.
Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff.
Running time: 148 min.


Life is hard. If there was any point that Biutiful wanted to get across, that was it. Uxbal (Javier Bardem), seems to be going through it all. His estranged wife, Marambra (Maricel Álvarez), suffers from bipolar disorder which leaves her seemingly unable to look after their two children. He's trying to keep his operations with several Chinese immigrants afloat, while they live in poor conditions. Uxbal himself doesn't live in the greatest of conditions. His brother is sleeping with his wife. He can communicate with a dead body's soul. He's also dying of prostate cancer. Yes, there is a lot that Uxbal and his audience have to feel bad about. And it's like Alejandro González Iñárritu wants you to feel as terrible as ever about it all. For 148 minutes. Doesn't sound like fun, does it? No. But while the film has divided audiences and critics alike, I still found the energy deep within my soul to like this movie. Not an easy feat at all.

Pan's Labyrinth

Date: 18/07/10. Last day of holidays.

Ever since Pan's Labyrinth first came out in late 2006 I had wanted to see it. Reason why I didn't? Ask the video store. Now I have my hands on this, I can tell that I won't want to be watching this film just once, it's a good enough fairytale to keep revisiting.
Just like a classic fairytale, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) escapes to a land full of mythical creatures and things she wouldn't normally find in the real world. She goes to this place when she is sent to live with her mother to her evil stepfather's during WWII in Spain. Upon going there, she finds out that she is the long lost princess, but to prove her royalty she must complete a set of very gruesome task If she doesn't do this then she won't be able to see her real father again.
What I loved most about Pan's Labyrinth was the fact that it takes a simple fairytale and turns it on its side to reveal a much darker, horrifying view of it. Most of its violence and gore contributes to the beauty of it. The creatures in this film are entirely believable, and don't seem like those weird things that you can tell just came from someones head without much thought being put into them (like Tim Burton's CGI disaster version of Alice in Wonderland. Not cool.)
The content of this film is very metaphorical and captivating. It's just another example of how European's can produce much better quality horror films than the crap that sick minds in America like to churn out. Though it doesn't seem like a horror film on the surface, this gave me nightmares.

A fairytale not the way we are used to seeing it. Beautiful.
8/10