Director's Spotlight: Guillermo del Toro

One of the great visual stylists of his time, Guillermo Del Toro has also always made movies that I think are deeper than they first appear. He also constantly references other works of art, other movies, and often times themes that would go over my head upon first watch. He often tackles themes of feeling out of place, or searching for your place in the world. And the rigid authoritarianism of his villains often forcing his protagonists to make difficult choices. His first big movie, Mimic, was taken away from him in the editing room and recut by producer Harvey Weinstein in the late 90's. Del Toro vowed to never work with Weinstein again after that. I guess you could say that was Del Toro's choice as the hero against Weinstein's villain.

 

He’s also obsessed with symbols. Clocks, watches, rings, idols of some kind, etc. His films often have the fantastical coexisting or hiding within our mundane “real world”, sometimes where only the protagonist can see. I don't want to paint him as some sort of intellectual genius filmmaker, but I do find his movies to be deeper than you might think. And all of his trademarks were there from the start in Cronos: mechanisms, insects, monsters, elaborate camerawork, impressive sets, imperfect families, a fascination with the mythic and legendary, Ron Perlman, all of it, it was all right there. Actually one of my favorite moments in my moviegoing life was watching Pacific Rim on opening weekend and when Ron Perlman came onscreen, the theater broke out in applause. Wish Perlman had been there to feel the love for his awesomeness.

One of the things I love the most is that for Del Toro, the monsters aren't the bad guys. The ghost in The Devil's Backbone is not the villain, people are. The monsters during Ofelia's trials in Pan's Labyrinth are nothing compared to the horrific Captain Vidal. Even Hellboy, despite literally being born as the sign of the apocalypse, is the hero of his movie, not the villain. The monsters in Del Toro's work are not these horrific, one-dimensional things to cause fear or wreak havoc in the story. They are objects of sympathy and even curiosity. The monsters are often even the heroes, obviously taken from Del Toro's childhood love of movies like Frankenstein and the Hammer Dracula films.

Anyway, my ratings of his movies are:

1. Pan's Labyrinth - 10/10
2. The Devil's Backbone - 10/10
3. Pacific Rim - 9/10
4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 8/10
5. Cronos - 8/10
6. Hellboy - 8/10
7. Crimson Peak -7/10
8. Blade II - 6/10

Obviously haven't seen Shape of Water or Mimic yet, but I will.