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I caught an interesting movie at the cinema over the weekend that i had not previously heard of - Pan’s Labyrinth - which is best described as a gothic fairytale.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a foreign language film set in Spain during the second world war, in the repressive aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in which Franco’s Nationalists were victorious. Ofelia, a young girl, relocates with her pregnant mother to a military outpost in the mountains to be with her unpleasant stepfather, Captain Vidal. Ofelia struggles to cope in this harsh environment but quickly become embroiled in supernatural events of a fairy tale nature in which she is the central protagonist. Without going into too much detail, when exploring the garden Labyrinth Ofelia meets a Faun - Pan, pictured above - who gives her a number of fairytale-esque challenges to complete.

One of the interesting aspects of the movie is the parallel real-world and fairytale narratives that run through the movie. While Ofelia engages in supernatural events, her step father - a ruthless and unforgiving character - engages in bloody skirmishes with rebels residing in the hillsides. While these dual narratives could arguably be better integrated, they break up the movie so that neither story becomes too relentless.

Paradoxically, despite the supernatural narrative, some of the more unpleasant and shocking scenes involved the non-supernatural conflict between the government troops and republican rebels. The violence is very strong, being of a Quentin Tarantino style, though not overwhelming in volume.

The fairytale scenes are executed very well, featuring quality animation and graphical effects. More importantly, the fairytales themselves were refreshing though i’m sure some, if not most, may be loosely based on other stories.

Like all good movie endings, the conclusion to Pan’s Labyrinth raises questions about what preceded. However, there would seem to be enough detail in the movie to come at some sort of conclusion. What that conclusion is i will leave for you to find out.

In conclusion, I found Pan’s Labyrinth to be a pleasant surprise that i recommend. However, the violence in this dark adult fairytale means it will not be for the faint of heart.

I went to the Pearl Jam concert last night with my brother and a couple friends at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, so here is a brief review.

The band were quite impressive, playing most of their classics and demonstrating great musicianship in general. The drummer Matt Cameron was excellent, playing a long rhythmic drum solo. As usual they performed some great covers - injecting Midnight Oil into one song and finishing off with a great version of The Who’s Teenage Wasteland. Most importantly, the crowd was really into the show, giving it a great vibe.

One complaint was that it was a little hard to hear Eddie Vedder’s vocals in a couple songs, but he performed well considering that he was apparently sick as a dog - thanks for sticking it out Ed. Another thing is that while i respect Eddie’s views on the Iraq War, it would be nice to be able to go out for a fun night without political issues being raised - i think there are plenty of other forums now available for conveying ones views.

A special mention should also go to the warm up band - the Kings of Leon. If you haven’t heard of KOL before, they are a rock band from Southern USA who, as my brother points out, sound almost like a modern day version of Creedence Clearwater Revival, but with a more alternative edge.