Remember when Guillermo del Toro‘s name was absolutely everywhere? Only a few years ago he was on everyone’s lips, with “Pan’s Labyrinth” widely celebrated, the “Hellboy” films providing some of the most original comic-book fare around, and a huge number of exciting new projects apparently on the way from his massive imagination. What happened? Well, all those exciting new projects happened, really: it seems del Toro was caught between too many different projects, and in the past 6 years he has only managed to complete one—the divisive but impressive “Pacific Rim”—though the next feature “Crimson Peak” is on its way and his TV series “The Strain” drops this summer.
None of that changes the fact that del Toro has made some absolutely extraordinary films, as we noted last year in our retrospective of his work. One thing that retrospective didn’t cover was the director’s very early shorts, but now one of them has surfaced—”Geometria.” A neat little gothic tale that showcases his ghoulish taste and tendency for elaborate, dramatic lighting, as well as some fancier, near-Expressionist camerawork and a rather 80s attitude to devil-worship. Made in 1987, “Geometry” is also funnier than most of del Toro’s full-length work, though there are flashes of humor in everything he does. It’s not much to keep us going until “Crimson Peak” arrives next year, but it’ll do for now. [Open Culture]
