Special Features
While the three films of Criterion’s Trilogía package are gateway drugs to macabre moviemaking mind-expansion, the box set’s bonus content offers applicable anecdotes about production and process that can empower creatives who, after marathon-viewing these masterworks, may understandably feel dwarfed by del Toro’s singular genius.
In his interview on “Geometria,” his short ode to technicolored Italian giallo cinema of the 1970s, del Toro explains that the film was instrumental in his honing in on the amber, cyan and magenta palette that would carry over into all of his subsequent feature-length work to varying degrees. An homage to the atmospherics of Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci, del Toro also notes that “Geometria” is the birthplace of his films’ engagement with religious dogma and a precursor to his representations of rotting relationships from within the family unit. Del Toro’s fond look back at this little film offers much-needed perspective: Moving past self-imposed pressure to fully realize your vision in its entirety with your first feature, instead focus on extracting one or two useful tools—in del Toro’s case, they were color and theme—from its making that you can wield for the rest of your career.
Interviews with American actors Perlman and Jones on the making of Cronos and Pan’s Labyrinth, respectively, credit del Toro with easing each of them into a high-stakes situation as the sole non-Spanish-speaking cast members on both Mexican productions. Luppi confirms their accounts of del Toro’s charming managerial style, remarking in his interview, “He spoke with the calmness and experience of an older man.” Heed their words when called upon to quell your cast and crew’s creeping insecurities during the most daunting days of your production.
Making-of documentaries “Spanish Gothic” and “¿Qué es un fantasma?” provide in-depth background information on The Devil’s Backbone‘s production and context on how the film’s ghostly parable improves upon classical horror tradition. Speaking on the film’s political implications, scholar Sebastiaan Faber argues that del Toro’s acumen as a cultural philosopher lies in his success at fashioning the “ugly as good and the bad as beautiful.” Commit to the mode of characterization Faber sees in del Toro’s work to create pro/antagonists whose motivations don’t necessarily match their appearance.
Guillermo del Toro gives a tour of his “Bleak House” and its cabinet of curiosities in a video featurette of Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro. Courtesy of the Criterion Collection
Touring the ins and outs of Criterion’s treasure trove of extras is a bit like joining del Toro in the comfort of his living room—an intimate experience that’s intentionally facilitated during his conversation on Pan’s Labyrinth with fellow fairy tale connoisseur Cornelia Funke, or by way of his personal notes on each image in the package’s still galleries.
Far more than the average moviemaker who participates in a Criterion treatment of their work, del Toro’s fingerprints are found all over this box set—so much so that one gets the sense he is aggressively competing for the last word on his art, even as highly qualified critics and cultural commentators weigh in with observations of their own. Original booklet essays by Neil Gaiman, Mark Kermode, Maitland McDonagh and Michael Atkinson all bring worthwhile analyses to the table, yet admittedly the points made by each at times feel like reiterations of something del Toro has already expressed on one of the discs’ interviews, audio commentary tracks or director’s notebook vignettes.
As evidenced by his heavy curatorial hand, Del Toro has held film history and the art and form of criticism in equally high regard throughout his career. It would serve moviemakers well to strive for the relative influence that his critical engagement affords him when participating in the discourse on his cinematic output. Not getting a call from Criterion to attach their name to your film any time soon? Doesn’t matter. Even something as seemingly inconsequential as an interview on your film’s press day could shape the fate of its reception if you’re willing to play an active role in the dialogue that surrounds it.
The Takeaway
Guillermo del Toro has long been involved in the making of books, graphic novels, home video releases, documentaries, curated exhibits and other media whose purpose is the solidification of his life’s legacy. Criterion’s Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro will surely hold up as among the finest of his almost comically abundant efforts. The package’s presentation effectively makes the case to moviemakers that prolific genius is not illusory but, in fact, tangible, and that it’s bred by your deep commitment to explore the themes that will inevitably resurface in your consciousness, and by extension, your films. Your choice to follow del Toro’s lead just might determine your fate. MM
Trilogía de Guillermo del Toro was released by Criterion on Blu-ray and DVD October 17, 2016.
Next week’s Criterion Crash Course: The Executioner, a pitch-black political satire by Luis García Berlanga, who moviemaker Pedro Almodóvar hails as “the true father of Spanish cinema.”
Other titles in Criterion’s October line-up:
A new stand-alone Blu-ray and DVD edition of Guillermo del Toro’s haunting, fairy tale-fashioned allegory of Franco-fascist Spain, Pan’s Labyrinth // Ermanno Olmi’s Palme d’Or-winning The Tree of Wooden Clogs, an engrossing snapshot of rural Italian life at the turn of the 20th century// Boyhood, Richard Linklater’s 12-year-spanning narrative of one boy’s journey through early childhood and adolescence, and a Blu-ray edition of Robert Altman’s multi-segmented adaptation of Raymond Carver stories, Short Cuts.
Criterion Giveaway: Every week, we’re giving away a different Criterion title to one lucky winner. To enter the draw, all you have to do is subscribe to our newsletter! Full instructions here, and follow @moviemakermag on Facebook and Twitter for announcements on every week’s title.
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