Guillermo del Toro: what you need to know about the director of the Oscar-winning "Form of Water"

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The life hacker understands why del Toro got so much love from critics and viewers.

Who is Guillermo del Toro?

In short, one of the foremost storytellers in film history and one of the three most famous Mexican directors of our time. The other two - Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu ("The Survivor") and Alfonso Cuaron ("Gravity") - are longtime associates and close friends of del Toro.

With the latter, Guillermo early in his career worked on a Twilight Zone-style television anthology of horror films titled Assigned Time. Whereas Iñarritu helped him with the editing of "Pan's Labyrinth" - one of the main masterpieces of del Toro. And in 2008, these "three comrades" founded their own film company called "Cha Cha Cha Films", which produces low-budget Mexican cinema.

However, first of all, del Toro is known for his solo paintings, the themes of which somehow revolve around horrors (real or fictional), childish fear, fairy-tale worlds and, of course, monsters. It was the latter that made Guillermo iconic in many cinematic circles and formed an important part of his unique directorial style.

It turns out that he only shoots scary tales with monsters?

Not at all. In del Toro's filmography, one can find screen adaptations of comics (Blade 2, the Hellboy dilogy), historical films (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Ridge) or, for example, a Hollywood blockbuster with a budget of $ 200 million (Pacific frontier "). But monsters or otherworldly forces are always present in every director's film: from the very first staged videos, made at the age of eight, to the current triumphant "The Form of Water".

Take at least one of his early short films "Geometry" - a story about a schoolboy who decided to pass an exam with the help of perfume, filmed in the spirit of "Yeralash". In it, Guillermo ridicules not only the genre of mystical horror, but also the general enthusiasm for spiritualism and the occult in Latin America. In this sketch, there is much more funny than scary, while the main hero of the occasion invariably appears - a real demon from the underworld.

What is special about Guillermo del Toro's directorial style besides the monsters?

Del Toro has been influenced by all of the world's culture, from anime and American B films to Victorian Gothic novels and Lovecraft's prose. The director's filmography is so diverse that it is difficult to single out even two similar films in it. At the same time, Guillermo often returns to the same important topics for him, be it the story of growing up amid the horrors of war ("The Devil's Ridge", "Pan's Labyrinth"), the painful struggle with a virus or disease ("Chronos", "The Strain"), the invasion of monsters ("Mutants", "Pacific Rim") or the adoption of a monster within oneself ("Chronos", the dilogy "Hellboy", "The Form of Water").

What unites all of his works?

These are, in the full sense of the word, man-made works. Del Toro not only writes scripts on his own (according to his own or someone else's ideas), but also completely creates monster designs and special effects in his films.

Even before his directing career, he was a special make-up designer for one of the best Hollywood specialists Dick Smith ("The Exorcist") for more than 10 years and even founded his own company in this field. Since then, every monster in del Toro's films is not only a figment of his imagination or computer graphics, but also the creation of the director's hands, often made in the old-fashioned technique of animatronics and plastic makeup.

Has del Toro just now become famous?

Not really. Already with his first film "Chronos" he was accepted into the official program of Cannes, where he was nominated for the prize for the best debut - a shock start for a beginner. After that, the director was more than once invited to the main world film shows, and in 2007 he was even nominated for an Oscar for “Pan's Labyrinth”.

The paradox in the case of del Toro is that during his entire career he practically did not receive significant awards and professional recognition, although he has long been loved by critics and spectators alike. This may be due to the fact that Guillermo was never involved in any particular category of the cinematic world.

So, fascinated by the opening opportunities, he more than once plunged headlong into Hollywood scams (among which there were both box office failures, for example, "Pacific Rim", and creative failures - "Mutants"), which regularly spoiled his festival reputation as an author.

Only in 2017, together with The Form of Water, del Toro deservedly took a solid place among the most eminent directors of our time: in September he received the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival - the first award in his career at a major international film festival, and now he took Oscar.

What does he have to watch first?

To be honest, all of Guillermo's tapes are unique. Therefore, many film fans are looking forward to each of his films with such impatience. Del Toro has a movie for every taste. And nevertheless, the most recognized and, perhaps, the best in his filmography are two films: "The Labyrinth of a Faun" and "The Shape of Water". And they are similar in many ways.

The action of "Pan's Labyrinth" takes place in 1944. The painting tells a bloody tale of a lost princess against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. "The Shape of Water" is a similarly magical story about a dumb cleaning lady who fell in love with an experimental "Ichthyander" caught by the American military in 1963.

Both paintings are about the injustice and cruelty of their time, but also about the miracle of love that can withstand any horror. The first film is harsher and requires at least a rough knowledge of Spanish history to get into the details. The second is almost the most spectator of del Toro's author's films (as evidenced by the awards he received and almost unanimous positive feedback), and it can be watched by everyone.

And if these films seem too sentimental to you (which del Toro does not hide), you can safely put on his "Pacific Rim" - a real boyish frenzy for robots and monsters, made no worse than Michael Bay's "Transformers".

Has del Toro not made a single bad movie?

I took it off, but with some reservations. For example, many viewers did not appreciate Guillermo's attempt to perform on the territory of the "gothic film", hence the low rating of the ghostly "Crimson Peak" and the equally viscous in terms of the narrative of "Chronos". On the other hand, film critics seriously scolded del Toro for the empty head and childishness of Pacific Rim, while many viewers (including the author of the article) liked him.

Only one film is considered a real disaster in the Mexican's career - the dull and secondary Hollywood horror film "Mutants", produced by the now notorious Weinstein brothers. However, even this picture can be admired. Among them, for example, the legend of American film critic Roger Ebert.

I know who Guillermo del Toro is and have seen all of his films. What else can I see?

Let's make a reservation in advance that there is no one very similar to del Toro in modern cinema. And thank God. But if you are already fed up with the Mexican filmography, then here are some ideas.

Some of del Toro's films are vaguely reminiscent of early Alejandro Amenabar, especially his Graduation Work and the iconic Others with Nicole Kidman. Undoubtedly, Guillermo's friends Cuarón and Iñárritu were also influenced by him, given their close creative ties. But, perhaps, to the greatest extent, the director's followers can be called two directors: the Spaniard Juan Antonio Bayonu and the Argentinean Andres Muschetti, whose "Shelter" and "Mama" obviously continue the aesthetic achievements of "Pan's Labyrinth".

By the way, it was del Toro's production support that launched the careers of both. Therefore, it should not be surprising that elements of his style are worn by almost all projects to which Guillermo had a hand in one way or another. The most interesting of them are "Insight", "Do not be afraid of the dark" and "Chimera" by Vincenzo Natali.