DISSECTING THE DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

“GUILLERMO DEL TORO”

“Visionary” is the word I would use to describe Guillermo del Toro, it says a lot about him despite being just one word. He came onto the directing scene with his first feature in the 90’s and then over the past 15 years has given us some of the most fantastic and memorable films to date. There really isn’t anyone quite like him working today, if anything I am tempted to say he’s Peter Jackson’s long lost twin as the two have a lot in common as filmmakers but are still quite different in certain ways. I would love to see into the mind of del Toro, the amazing things he creates would have such a wild imagination behind them and no doubt it would be fascinating to see what makes him tick. A look into his filmography is most certainly a wild and strange ride. Are you ready? Get strapped in!

BEST WORK

Get Pan’s Labyrinth on DVD here
Get Pan’s Labyrinth on Blu-ray here

Del Toro has an impressive resume, and I could easily put 90% of what he has made under this category. But for the sake of narrowing it down and judging this on my personal rating system, I would put Pan’s Labyrinth down as his best. It was only recently that I discovered the film, for whatever reasons I had not gotten around to checking it out, despite always wanting to. It is a strange creature, much like the vision he creates but it’s hands down one of the strongest and most beautiful films of the past 10 years.

Pan’s Labyrinth is set in 1944 within post-Civil war Spain. A young girl Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her heavily pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) go to live with her new husband Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Vidal is a fascist man, who is busy fighting and trying to weed out the remaining rebels. The life that Ofelia now must face is not one that she wants, having her fairy tales with her she escapes into a world of her own creation. Over the course of the film we see what is happening within this village and the fight of the rebels as well as Ofelia’s fantasy world and the parallels between them. The story is sad but beautiful, as are each of the characters. The look and feel of the film are much the same; while it looks stunning there is sombreness about it. The acting from each performer is quite flawless, each portraying all the different emotions of their characters so well it was easy to feel empathy. Ivana Baquero was especially fantastic; I felt her imagination as well as heart ache.

The film is an amazing visual delight from the dark over tones of the village and woods to the scary nature of the fantasy element. Everything wove together so well, the creatures and fantasy land just popped out from the scenery. It reminded me of the Czech film Alice (1988), where the fantasy and characters were created from the objects that were present. Again Doug Jones shines as the two different characters he performed; it is almost astounding to know that the effects used for him were mostly practical with minimal CGI. It is a real testament to the talents of everyone involved. If you have not seen this film, you owe it to yourself to experience this amazing piece of art.

WORST WORK

Get Mimic on DVD here

The weakest film from del Toro also happens to be his first Hollywood feature, which would be 1997’s Mimic. What could have been an interesting film got turned into an average scare fest that lost focus within the first third. There is a feeling of del Toro’s style somewhere in the film, but it was mostly washed away thanks to the not so great studio interference. I have no idea why they felt the need to keep making changes, and why there was no faith in what del Toro was doing. He has basically disowned this film and it is not hard to see why.

The basic ideas are interesting, and the beginning has a great set up. The story is about an entomologist who created an insect to kill cockroaches that were carriers of a horrible disease. But three years later it would seem those insects have become something else and they are killing people. Sounds pretty good, but the execution and where the story leads make it seem like an average direct to video genre piece. It had a great cast who were all mostly solid here including Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northman, Charles Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini, Josh Brolin and F. Murray Abraham. It really didn’t feel like a del Toro film, there was not a lot of set up and it started to stray into the cliqued territory of the common creature feature. I wanted to see more and experience more with the new creatures that were created instead of people just disappearing.

It is really sad when a studio does this to films, I am sure some needed their guidance but in this case the end result was a mess. Del Toro is far too talented, and for this to be mediocre is almost criminal. I would have loved to have seen exactly what he wanted but it was not meant to be.

TRADEMARKS

Get Hellboy on DVD here
Get Hellboy on Blu-ray here

When I think of del Toro, I automatically think about his visual style and the strange and beautiful creatures that he envisions. For me they are his biggest trademark, the ones they stay with the audience. From the look of Hellboy himself to the Pale Man in Pan’s, each is detailed and unique in their own way. His imagination is let loose and the people who helped put them all together have done outstanding jobs, visually nothing is ever boring. His grand use of colour is very strong as well; you can notice that each film has a dominant colour used. Next to this, the man frequently uses insects. They show up quite often, some more apparent than others, but each time they are different in their uses and appearances. Along with that, he uses clockwork type designs and objects. I had noticed this a lot with Hellboy, but the more films I saw the more I really took notice.

Along with directing his films, del Toro also writes them which would seem only natural given his fantastic eye for things. There are also usually underlying religious themes and references, sometimes more subtle than others. The characters in his films also tend to have father issues, in more than one way there is always a strong influence and motivation there. The films generally have scenes set underground, where it would be a subway or some kind of basement. He frequently works with the amazing cinematographer Guillermo Navarro as the two make for an outstanding team. He also works with a lot of the same actors including of course Ron Perlman, Frederico Luppi and Doug Jones.

HIDDEN GEM

Get Cronos on DVD here
Get Cronos on Blu-ray here

There are two films that easily fall into this category, Cronos his debut feature length film and The Devil’s Backbone. Both are quite different from one another and very much worth your attention. I’d like to focus on Cronos, a film that I have been interested in seeing for a long time and I finally got my chance. The film is a very unique look at the vampire mythos, instead dealing with a device that causes the condition. It begins in the 1500’s with an alchemist who builds a device that gives immortality. He lives for a very long time yet death it seems is inevitable however. It ends up in the hands of antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) who accidently uses it and begins to change. Knowing of the device and who has it, the De La Guardia father (Claudio Brook) and son (Ron Perlman) seek it out no matter what the cost.

The film is filled with fantastic imagery and ideas, who would have ever thought of having an actual device in this way to give immortality in the way that vampires do. Once Jesus gets attached to the device, a strange hunger comes over him. There is an amazing scene where he is in the bathroom and tempted to drink blood. The performances are fantastic with Luppi absolutely stealing the show with an amazing and emotional performance. Brook and Perlman are also rather enjoyable, and this of course marked the first time Perlman and del Toro worked together. At times the film is heartbreaking, horrific and always moving, it is a thing of beauty. Del Toro really proved here that he is a talented writer and director.

NEXT PROJECT

The man is a busy one; aside from writing and directing he produces a lot of films. I wonder where he gets the time to do so much! He has been attached to many different projects recently, and it seems the one that is going ahead is Pacific Rim. The film already has a tentative release date for mid-next year so we are likely to hear more about it in the coming months. The premise sounds perfect for del Toro’s style, ‘an alien attack threatens our planet, so giant robots that are manned by humans are sent to fight them off’. That gets my gears roaring, and this is top of the pile of upcoming films I will be watching out for. It is currently being cast; del Toro has a good eye for that so no doubt it will be an interesting one.

OVERALL

Get The Devil’s Backbone on DVD here

There is no denying that Guillermo del Toro is a truly masterful talent, giving the world such utterly beautiful and entertaining films. He really first caught my attention with Hellboy and I’ve been a fan ever since. The vivid imagination present in his films often reminds me of my own, and what strange things I would think of as a child. His written words are just as memorable and breath- taking as his visions are. The man is a true storyteller and someone we are lucky to experience in this generation.