Foreign Film Fridays: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (Spain, 2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) is a Spanish dark fantasy film from Guillermo Del Toro. It tells the story of Ofelia, the young stepdaugher of a cruel Francoist general in the midst of a war with guerrilla rebels. Ofelia stumbles upon a fairytale-like world and must complete various mystical tasks to claim her long-lost throne as princess of the Underworld. The film is often cited as one of the greatest foreign-language films ever made and launched Del Toro into worldwide recognition. How does such dark and twisted film cast a spell on so many?

“Roma” Script Analysis: Cultural Memory and The Circle of Life

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma has been heralded as one of the best films of 2018 and a masterpiece from an already-acclaimed auteur. While much of the praise has gone towards the external elements of the film – the cinematography, the set design, the acting – I was struck by how complex and ingenious the film is at its core: the screenplay. Today I’ll be going in-depth and attempting to glean meaning from the film from its many interwoven themes.

The best way I’ve found to analyze Roma is by breaking it down into its components and seeing what we can learn from the different themes and how they play off of each other. Let’s get started!

“Roma” Film Review & Analysis

**UPDATE: For more analysis of Roma, check out my Script Analysis post where I dissect the screenplay to determine the hidden themes and messages of the film!

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Roma (2018) is the latest from Alfonso Cuaron, one of my favorite working directors. It stars Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo, a housekeeper for a middle-class family in 1970’s Mexico. The film has drawn serious accolades thus far and is a frontrunner for Best Picture already, despite not dropping officially on Netflix until next Friday. What is all the buzz about? *SPOILERS AHEAD!*

Foreign Film Fridays: “Y Tu Mamá También” (Mexico, 2001)

Welcome back to Foreign Film Fridays, where I talk about some of my favorite non-English language films! (And yes I know it’s Thursday, but I have a new review planned for tomorrow, so stay tuned!) Today we’re going back to turn-of-the-century Mexico and the breakthrough film for a future Oscar winner: Alfonso Cuarón. Y Tu Mamá También stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as Julio and Tenoch, two upper-class teens who embark on a spontaneous road trip across Mexico with Luisa (Maríbel Verdú), a woman ten years their elder.

I had this film on my watch list for many years but never got around to it until just last month. I decided to put it on in preparation for Cuarón’s upcoming film Roma, which will be a return to a more grounded examination of his home country, Mexico. This film was well-received but largely passed over for awards consideration, though it did snag an Oscar nom for Best Original Screenplay (a rarity for a foreign film). It was controversial at the time for its explicit sexuality and drug references, perhaps dampening its impact and exposure with many viewers. But setting that aside, this is a masterful work that manages to mask its complexity behind a facade of realism, working on multiple levels at once. For this reason, I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my thoughts on the film until I’d let it sit for a while and then watched it a second time with a better sense of what to look for. And after doing so, I can conclude that this is one of the best films I’ve ever seen, foreign or otherwise. *SPOILERS AHEAD!*