Where I Am: At the Movies

What I’m Doing: Basking in the afterglow of Pan’s Labyrinth

We saw two movies over the weekend: Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Both were amazing.

Both were nominated for Best Cinematography Oscars and for good reason.

Children of Men has some of the most amazing tracking shots ever put to film. The fact that they’re not at all flashy and do nothing to take away from the characters or story makes them all the more remarkable. The continuous take in the car scene blew me away and it didn’t even register with some of the people I was watching it with until I pointed it out.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a reminder of how truly terrifying fairy tales are. There’s a lot of horrific things going on in the real world (they make up at least 2/3 of the movie) but I was never as terrified as when Ophelia was in her fantasy world. The Pale Man was wonderfully realized: there’s nothing so terrifying to me as something menacing in wait.

If you haven’t seen either, they’re two movies that are well worth dragging yourself out to the theater for. You’ll be happy you didn’t wait for the DVDs.