Allegra Bortoni, Grade 12
UWC Costa Rica
Long ago in the Underground Realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a princess who dreamt of the human world. The sound of the muffled wind. She dreamt of blue skies, the soft breeze, and sunshine…
One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died.
Her father, the King, always knew the Princess would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning… (Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006)
I first heard these opening lines as a twelve or thirteen-year-old. I was sitting in front of a giant screen as my current favorite movie was beginning to unravel its fantastic narrative. No wonder it won 3 Oscars and had a total of 6 nominations, among dozens of other prizes it accumulated over the years.
As the last scene began to fade away into darkness I patiently watched the credits descend. The name of the film director was engraved into my memory since then, Guillermo del Toro.
From then on I started to look for the rest of his filmography. Some of my favored films besides Pan’s Labyrinth are Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, The Strain, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Nightmare Alley, The Orphanage, and Mimic.
A year after my family moved from Mexico City to Guadalajara, the radio stations and posters around the corner of several streets started to announce the arrival of a unique Guillermo del Toro exhibition. He wanted to display to be mounted specifically in Guadalajara, as it is his hometown.
I was very attentive to the ticket’s release, I reckoned there was going to be a high demand, and I was right. Nonetheless, I had the fortune of assisting twice. More than 900 objects that represented and served as inspiration for the filmmaker were going to be displayed around the exhibition halls to bring the viewers closer to an understanding of Del Toro’s creative process. “Personal objects, characters from his films, costumes, notebooks, and drawings of the filmmaker are complemented in this exhibition with works by the most important Mexican authors” (En casa con mis monstruos, 2019).
Since he was a child he was inclined to the mysterious, the occult, and the monstrous. The guide mentioned the particular detail of Guillermo asking for a mandrake as a Christmas present in order to get started in a self-learning process of witchcraft. Being raised in a strictly Catholic environment, his parents obviously denied it. We were told about the comics he read and the movies he watched then, which served as nourishment for his creative mind and later as the foundation for his works.
Some spaces were designed to reproduce the arrangement of his actual house in Los Angeles. I was astounded when I got to see a picture of his library. Dozens of bookshelves are completely filled with books, while the surrounding tables and furniture held eerie (yet awesome) collectible figures and decorations. There are even two wax sculptures that keep the reader company. One is Edgar Allan Poe and the second one incarnates H.P. Lovecraft.
I couldn’t help but feel somewhat nostalgic when we got to the end of the exhibition since it was never going to be shown to the public again. After being presented in Guadalajara, At Home With Monsters would return once again to L.A.
Guillermo del Toro is a person I deeply admire, beyond our shared interests, I recognize his extraordinary creative capacity. From a very young age and through considerable effort and dedication he has given life and magic to an endless number of stories that always add a touch of vivacity to the day in which one decides to watch them. Additionally, he has shown himself to be a simple person, open to dialogue, teaching and supporting young Mexicans. My grand role model.
Bibliography
País, M. Torreiro: Diario El, et al. “El Laberinto Del Fauno (2006).” FilmAffinity, 1 Nov. 2006, https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film977734.html.
Teorema. “En Casa Con Mis Monstruos.” En Casa Con Mis Monstruos, https://encasaconmismonstruos.com/.
Image Courtesy: https://www.google.com/search?q=en+casa+con+mis+monstruos&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMg_iTi7_5AhWTZDABHchZBigQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1536&bih=746&dpr=1.25&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=tPw7Debt51qPRM
One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died.
Her father, the King, always knew the Princess would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning… (Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006)
I first heard these opening lines as a twelve or thirteen-year-old. I was sitting in front of a giant screen as my current favorite movie was beginning to unravel its fantastic narrative. No wonder it won 3 Oscars and had a total of 6 nominations, among dozens of other prizes it accumulated over the years.
As the last scene began to fade away into darkness I patiently watched the credits descend. The name of the film director was engraved into my memory since then, Guillermo del Toro.
From then on I started to look for the rest of his filmography. Some of my favored films besides Pan’s Labyrinth are Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, The Strain, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Nightmare Alley, The Orphanage, and Mimic.
A year after my family moved from Mexico City to Guadalajara, the radio stations and posters around the corner of several streets started to announce the arrival of a unique Guillermo del Toro exhibition. He wanted to display to be mounted specifically in Guadalajara, as it is his hometown.
I was very attentive to the ticket’s release, I reckoned there was going to be a high demand, and I was right. Nonetheless, I had the fortune of assisting twice. More than 900 objects that represented and served as inspiration for the filmmaker were going to be displayed around the exhibition halls to bring the viewers closer to an understanding of Del Toro’s creative process. “Personal objects, characters from his films, costumes, notebooks, and drawings of the filmmaker are complemented in this exhibition with works by the most important Mexican authors” (En casa con mis monstruos, 2019).
Since he was a child he was inclined to the mysterious, the occult, and the monstrous. The guide mentioned the particular detail of Guillermo asking for a mandrake as a Christmas present in order to get started in a self-learning process of witchcraft. Being raised in a strictly Catholic environment, his parents obviously denied it. We were told about the comics he read and the movies he watched then, which served as nourishment for his creative mind and later as the foundation for his works.
Some spaces were designed to reproduce the arrangement of his actual house in Los Angeles. I was astounded when I got to see a picture of his library. Dozens of bookshelves are completely filled with books, while the surrounding tables and furniture held eerie (yet awesome) collectible figures and decorations. There are even two wax sculptures that keep the reader company. One is Edgar Allan Poe and the second one incarnates H.P. Lovecraft.
I couldn’t help but feel somewhat nostalgic when we got to the end of the exhibition since it was never going to be shown to the public again. After being presented in Guadalajara, At Home With Monsters would return once again to L.A.
Guillermo del Toro is a person I deeply admire, beyond our shared interests, I recognize his extraordinary creative capacity. From a very young age and through considerable effort and dedication he has given life and magic to an endless number of stories that always add a touch of vivacity to the day in which one decides to watch them. Additionally, he has shown himself to be a simple person, open to dialogue, teaching and supporting young Mexicans. My grand role model.
Bibliography
País, M. Torreiro: Diario El, et al. “El Laberinto Del Fauno (2006).” FilmAffinity, 1 Nov. 2006, https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film977734.html.
Teorema. “En Casa Con Mis Monstruos.” En Casa Con Mis Monstruos, https://encasaconmismonstruos.com/.
Image Courtesy: https://www.google.com/search?q=en+casa+con+mis+monstruos&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMg_iTi7_5AhWTZDABHchZBigQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1536&bih=746&dpr=1.25&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=tPw7Debt51qPRM
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