Cronos Review

Back in 1993, long before he took us on a mystical journey through Pan's Labyrinth, introduced a wider audience to the world of Hellboy or brought his vision of massive Jaeger vs. Kaiju battles to the big screen in Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro released his debut feature film Cronos, a wonderfully unique take on a vampire tale, and thank goodness for that unique factor because honestly, I'm just about vampire'd out at this point.

My relationship with the sub-genre was tedious at best to begin with, and with the popularity that was ushered in from the True Blood series and Twilight franchise I had officially pushed anything involving a vampire off to the side into a category called "Not Interested". Last year Jim Jarmusch and his wonderfully deadpan comedic stylings brought the solid film Only Lovers Left Alive to the table and I appreciated its very interesting take on just how boring it could be to live forever, but rather than a potential revival of my interests it felt like an anomaly.

Thus I knew it may be a challenge to approach Cronos with an open mind, but I reminded myself of two things: Guillermo del Toro has earned enough of my admiration to be worthy of my trust that if anyone could make me entertained by vampires again, it would be him, and that this is a film released over 20 years ago, not just another lazy effort to catch on to a fad before it is exhausted from overkill.

GDT delivered. Cronos is a clever, entertaining gem.

The film tells the story of a man named Jesús Cris, an antiques dealer who happens to find a device inside an old wooden statue of an archangel. Jesús somehow accidentally activates this object and it grabs hold of his hand, doing all sorts of damage by the time he is free of it. Soon after the cravings begin, beginning a transformation for Jesús from a mortal man to a blood thirsty vampire.

I found it interesting to see del Toro making a little girl a central character of the film, much like in his crowning cinematic achievement Pan's Labyrinth. He has publicly mentioned his deep love for the masterpiece The Spirit of the Beehive by Victor Erice and I could feel the influences here again, this time in the shape of Jesús' granddaughter Aurora. Her presence adds an important component to the story, that piece of emotional attached Jesús still has to the mortal world, and his continuing desire to protect her despite his transformation keeps his character feeling rather human despite the fact that his physical appearance indicates otherwise.

As a directorial debut from Guillermo del Toro, Cronos is a pretty great work, a film that really makes you wonder if immortality is all it's cracked up to be.  

4/5

The Spirit of the Beehive Review

As a child, seeing a film was the spark that lit my imagination on fire, from my first journey through a galaxy far, far away to the nights I couldn't sleep because a xenomorph might be lurking in the darkness. In The Spirit of the Beehive, a traveling cinema brings Frankenstein to a small Spanish village and people of all ages line their chairs up in excitement to catch a glimpse of the picture. Included in this group are two sisters, six year old Ana and the elder Isabel, and Ana is fascinated by the film, in particular a specific scene in which the monster plays with a little girl only to accidentally kill her.

The father of the family, Fernando, spends his time focusing on his beehives, while their mother writes letters to a former lover, dreaming of a different life. While these characters remain a family unit, at no point during the film do we see all of them together at the same time. The unrest exists both in and outside of their home, as their country recently had experienced civil war, and Ana turns to her imagination and the monster that lives inside it for comfort.

The debut feature film by director Victor Erice, The Spirit of the Beehive is at times perplexing if trying to make sense of all the symbolism that is clearly oozing out of every pore. I found myself falling in love with it when I let my mind go and simply embraced the passion that obviously drove the creation of the work. The set pieces are never glamorous or exciting, but they are beautiful in their authenticity. The doors of the family home feature a pattern of hexagon shapes, as if they are living inside a beehive when the yellow glow of the sun pours through them, the color flowing in like honey.

With each word I type in regards to this dazzling film, I find myself realizing just how much I adored living inside the world crafted by Erice for a mere 98 minutes. My only complaint regarding The Spirit of the Beehive is in actuality a compliment: I wanted more. Just as I was realizing the power of the imagery and the magical nature of each frame, the screen went black and the story was over. Perhaps that is the beauty of what was achieved here though, the tiny fraction of my mind that is left unsatisfied with the end of the journey will be what drives me to go back and revisit this masterpiece.


5/5