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A review by christinecc
Guillermo del Toro: The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work by Ian Nathan
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
The PERFECT gift for the cinephile friend in your life.
I've always considered myself a Guillermo del Toro fan, but my experience with his filmography has been spotty. The few movies of his that I have seen, I can recite by heart, and I've really enjoyed following his career since the late 2000s. But what about the rest of his work? What about his inspiration, his personal experience, his aspirations and projects that just never came to pass?
Ian Nathan's beautifully illustrated and researched "Guillermo del Toro" coffee table book went above and beyond my expectations. Nathan starts at the beginning, like many great stories, and shows us how the great del Toro grew up on formative fiction we still see referenced in his works today. A lot of this consists of horror fiction and pop culture that has only recently gained mainstream recognition (think superheroes, from a more niche standpoint, and pulp fiction... the genre, not the movie). del Toro's early steps as a filmmaker navigate a strange space between cultures, where he always stays true to his Mexican roots but inevitably draws on imports from other countries, all inextricably mixed in his mind to create the perfect combination of scary, beautiful, and genuinely touching human emotion.
The cinephile and film history fans will particularly appreciate the detailed overview Nathan gives of del Toro's creative process and production history across multiple different films. Having worked in multiple circles (even with the Almodóvar brothers in Spain), del Toro experienced a lot of different approaches to studio systems, creative liberties, and the dance between the producer and the director. Even if you're not the #1 del Toro fan out there, you'll find a lot of incredibly interesting information here about the various creative and directing roles that shape a film and how those roles can vary wildly depending on who's involved (not to mention when).
Overall, this is a must-have if you like movies, del Toro's work at any point of his career, or high-quality coffee table books that justify every single glossy illustrations with educational notes and visual delight.
Thank you to Netgalley and the White Lion Quarto Publishing Group for sending me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've always considered myself a Guillermo del Toro fan, but my experience with his filmography has been spotty. The few movies of his that I have seen, I can recite by heart, and I've really enjoyed following his career since the late 2000s. But what about the rest of his work? What about his inspiration, his personal experience, his aspirations and projects that just never came to pass?
Ian Nathan's beautifully illustrated and researched "Guillermo del Toro" coffee table book went above and beyond my expectations. Nathan starts at the beginning, like many great stories, and shows us how the great del Toro grew up on formative fiction we still see referenced in his works today. A lot of this consists of horror fiction and pop culture that has only recently gained mainstream recognition (think superheroes, from a more niche standpoint, and pulp fiction... the genre, not the movie). del Toro's early steps as a filmmaker navigate a strange space between cultures, where he always stays true to his Mexican roots but inevitably draws on imports from other countries, all inextricably mixed in his mind to create the perfect combination of scary, beautiful, and genuinely touching human emotion.
The cinephile and film history fans will particularly appreciate the detailed overview Nathan gives of del Toro's creative process and production history across multiple different films. Having worked in multiple circles (even with the Almodóvar brothers in Spain), del Toro experienced a lot of different approaches to studio systems, creative liberties, and the dance between the producer and the director. Even if you're not the #1 del Toro fan out there, you'll find a lot of incredibly interesting information here about the various creative and directing roles that shape a film and how those roles can vary wildly depending on who's involved (not to mention when).
Overall, this is a must-have if you like movies, del Toro's work at any point of his career, or high-quality coffee table books that justify every single glossy illustrations with educational notes and visual delight.
Thank you to Netgalley and the White Lion Quarto Publishing Group for sending me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.