Prior to receiving Criterion’s Blu-ray release of Guillermo del Toro’s feature directorial debut, Cronos, I’d never seen the film. Along with Mimic, it was the only del Toro film I hadn’t seen as well as the only del Toro film I didn’t own. I had, however, heard plenty about it, but most of what I’d heard originated from online sources so, as with most anything I read online, I took it with a grain of salt.
Del Toro seems to have become a bit of a favorite among online movie fans. I always get the impression a lot of his work is looked at through rose colored glasses so I can never tell if what I’m reading is actual opinion or affected opinion. In the case of Cronos this is bona fide del Toro, in line with The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s the reason he’s achieved such a lofty status with his fans and why some of his lesser work may be elevated to a loftier status than it truly deserves. It’s through films such as Cronos that he’s earned such praise and it’s for this reason I’m happy he’s no longer attached to The Hobbit and moved on to his passion project, H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. As much as he fits the world of Middle Earth, I’d much rather see him truly tackling something nearer and dearer to his heart, because that’s the impression I got when I watched Cronos just as I did with Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s.
Often described as a vampire story, which at its heart it is, Cronos is much better referred to as a fairy tale. However, such a classification is often misconstrued nowadays as Maitland McDonagh says in his included essay “Cronos: Beautiful Dark Things” when he writes:
Guillermo del Toro understands the power of fairy tales. Not the prettified romances of Charles Perrault, who tamed the Brothers Grimm for French drawing rooms, or the charming animal fables of Aesop, or the reassuring moral lessons Disney made of “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty,” but brutal tales of cruel fate, painful choices, and irreversible consequences, stories whose roots lie deep in the dark woods of our collective unconscious. Good may prevail, but there will be blood.
A more apt description I can’t imagine, though I would add del Toro’s understanding of character and character building. As visually inventive as he is, del Toro understands visuals are nothing without characters navigating his highly imaginative world. At the center of Cronos he offers the not-so-subtly-named Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) who happens across a strange and addictive device that grants those it infects with immortality, but at a price. Working against him is a rough around the edges American named Angel played by Ron Perlman, who has an interview on this Blu-ray that’s well worth a listen. There’s more to the struggle between Angel and Jesus, but there’s no sense in delving too deep for those that haven’t seen it.
As poetic as del Toro’s telling of this story is, the one thing I noticed that immediately linked this film with The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth was del Toro’s use of children. In this case it’s Jesus’s granddaughter Aurora and though she may not play as large a role as Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) in Pan’s Labyrinth or Carlos (Fernando Tielve) in The Devil’s Backbone, the innocence of a child is all that’s needed to add that special something the story needed to take it over the top.
When it comes to supplemental features, fans of this film will find a little bit of old mixed in with the new. Two audio commentaries have been carried over from Lionsgate’s 2002 special edition release; the first featuring del Toro and the second features producers Arthur H. Gorson, Bertha Navarro and Alejandro Springall. There’s also a five-minute 1993 archival featurette titled “The Making of Cronos” which features Federico Luppi talking about his role as Jesus and his other thoughts on the film.
On the new side of things, there are 39 minutes worth of interviews featuring del Toro, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro and the previously mentioned interview with a grateful Ron Perlman. Additionally, del Toro takes viewers on a journey through his home office in “Welcome to the Bleak House,” his home away from home as well as where he keeps all his creepy little knick knacks. It’s a feature del Toro enthusiasts will be drooling over.
Finally, Criterion has included del Toro’s six-and-a-half-minute 1987 short Geometria, which also includes a short introduction from del Toro admitting he only recently finished it as he intended for this release. And beyond that there is a stills gallery and the original theatrical trailer. The included booklet comes in at 42 pages and includes the McDonagh essay I referenced earlier as well as 24-pages of del Toro’s director’s notes from the filming of Cronos including his illustrations in the margins.
Overall I thought Criterion once again did a wonderful job with this presentation and it’s a worthy inclusion in their diverse gallery of films. The high-definition image is spectacular and the audio (Spanish/English DTS-HD MA 2.0) is up to the task. I’m quite happy to have this film in my collection and if you are reading this out of any measure of interest I think you will be too.
SIDE NOTE: Del Toro was interviewed by the A.V. Club recently and if you’re interested in reading his thoughts on the film you will want to click here. Del Toro has also named his top ten Criterion films, which you can read here.
