Pan's Mangled Labyrinth

Good recap from The State's Jeffrey Day on CMA's "Foreign Affair" Show.

I should have mentioned that it's paired with another: “From Pissarro to Picasso: European Works on Paper from the Norton Museum of Art.”

I only saw a little of this part of the show because I had to scram to the Nick to see Pan's Labyrinth -- Guillermo del Toro's highly lauded and not-bad fantasy of life in the Franco era.

I found it hard to concentrate for the first half-hour because the theatre was showing a scratched print: this big yellow streak that ran down the right side of the screen for the entire running time.

I tried getting used to it and focusing on the movie, but it was impossible. How this print could have even been released into circulation is beyond me; it should have been burned.

Technical problems are becoming an increasing cause of concern at the Nick. A few weeks ago they showed a spectacular new print of Rules of the Game -- or at least it would have been, if the theatre had the right lens. Instead, everyone in it looked like they were in a Botero painting. The petite Lisette looked like Jane Darwell. The stretch limousines stretched so far people actually laughed.

To the theatre's credit, they didn't charge anything for anyone who wanted to sit and watch this desecration -- which I did. I'd been waiting too long to see it in a theatre to do otherwise.

Before that, I sat through two hours plus of Army of Darkness, which was out of focus.

And before that, some months ago, there was WordPlay, where the film got badly screwed up, and I was running all over the place looking for a projectionist.

I hate bashing the Nick, but damn, the theater simply must get its act together.