there is something to be said about Guillermo del Toro heroines (Ofelia and Mercedes here, Conchita and Carmen in The Devil's Backbone, maybe even Princess Nuala in Hellboy II, Aurora in Cronos, perhaps the human lead in The Shape of Water) but idk what that is

i think this was probably my least favorite of his Spanish language movies (not a negative remark! Cronos and The Devil's Backbone were both very good)

now i just gotta rewatch The Shape of Water and i can issue my official ranking of every feature film he's directed by how much I liked them (and possibly also a separate ranking for how good they were)