David O'ConnellThe Orphanage
June 9th 2008 06:55
Here’s a rare modern horror film that manages to succeed on virtually every level. Offering seductive chills, an engaging story, and a compassionate heart at its core beneath the ghostly goings on, it ends up being a veritable masterclass in emotional manipulation.
After reading so many positive reviews of The Orphanage (El Orfanato) on Orble and elsewhere, it was a huge thrill, not only to finally get a chance to see it first-hand, but to discover that it actually lives up to its lofty reputation as one of the finest works in the genre for a long time. I thought it was close to a masterpiece to be honest, containing so many of the elements that are all too commonly missing from generic American retreads.
Director Juan Antonio Bayona shows the refinement and caress of a master with years of experience behind him manipulating the fears of his audiences. The truth is a different story, in fact, for it’s nothing less than an astonishing feature-length debut, and with the backing of producer - and brilliant director in his own right - Guillermo Del Toro (perhaps skillfully pulling a few strings of his own?), he succeeds in creating a sinister void of a world which we fully believe in from the opening scene, a flashback into the past of this troubled place.
Belen Rueda carries the greatest load and is superb as Laura, the mother who has returned, with the help of her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo), to the scene of her own traumatic childhood - the orphanage was a place for children with disabilities - with a strong desire to rejuvenate the rundown home and grounds again for more disadvantaged children, including her own ill son Simon (Roger Princep). But her quest soon becomes entangled with ghosts - both figurative and literal - from the home’s turbulent dark past.
When her son disappears her life is thrown into turmoil as she succumbs to an overwhelming obsession to have him returned alive. She never gives up hope of recovering him from the clutches of the orphanage’s depths, both real and imagined - not to mention the cruel twists of fate which play such an important role in the outcome. It’s this resolute determination and passion of hers that become the force driving the heart of the story onward.
The Orphanage is one dead-set creepy film, with moments of subtle terror and tension that had me on the edge of my seat like any great thriller might. It’s filled with memorably scary set-pieces without resorting to excessive CGI manipulation. The sequence with Geraldine Chaplin as a medium is probably the best of all, though the scene where something or someone seems to have crawled into bed with Laura……..is also painfully suspenseful and elongated (before you can breathe again!)
In this way, it’s a real throwback to classic films of the past which didn’t have the luxury of computer effects and were solely reliant on the skill and imagination of their artists. There’s definitely the influence of The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents and The Others at work, but there’s such a strong individual stamp over every frame here that you never think of comparisons in a negative context. Cinematographer Oscar Faura is able to turn every dark corner and crevice into a place where menace may be lurking with his skillful lensing.
Not to give anything any, as I’m sure nobody else has, but the climax of the film is an extremely emotional one – to be honest, I was taken by surprise at how moving it was; how fitting as well, in that it almost feels like a weird kind of cosmic balance is restored as Fernando Velazquez’s superb score reaches its most tonal pitch.
It may take some trouble to find a cinema screening this Spanish chiller, but I’ll loudly join the growing chorus of advocates for this film to add that it’s more than worth the effort to see what is easily one of the films of the year so far.
After reading so many positive reviews of The Orphanage (El Orfanato) on Orble and elsewhere, it was a huge thrill, not only to finally get a chance to see it first-hand, but to discover that it actually lives up to its lofty reputation as one of the finest works in the genre for a long time. I thought it was close to a masterpiece to be honest, containing so many of the elements that are all too commonly missing from generic American retreads.
Director Juan Antonio Bayona shows the refinement and caress of a master with years of experience behind him manipulating the fears of his audiences. The truth is a different story, in fact, for it’s nothing less than an astonishing feature-length debut, and with the backing of producer - and brilliant director in his own right - Guillermo Del Toro (perhaps skillfully pulling a few strings of his own?), he succeeds in creating a sinister void of a world which we fully believe in from the opening scene, a flashback into the past of this troubled place.
Belen Rueda carries the greatest load and is superb as Laura, the mother who has returned, with the help of her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo), to the scene of her own traumatic childhood - the orphanage was a place for children with disabilities - with a strong desire to rejuvenate the rundown home and grounds again for more disadvantaged children, including her own ill son Simon (Roger Princep). But her quest soon becomes entangled with ghosts - both figurative and literal - from the home’s turbulent dark past.
When her son disappears her life is thrown into turmoil as she succumbs to an overwhelming obsession to have him returned alive. She never gives up hope of recovering him from the clutches of the orphanage’s depths, both real and imagined - not to mention the cruel twists of fate which play such an important role in the outcome. It’s this resolute determination and passion of hers that become the force driving the heart of the story onward.
Belen Rueda as Laura (at the Orphanage.......or is it the Bates Motel!!??)
The Orphanage is one dead-set creepy film, with moments of subtle terror and tension that had me on the edge of my seat like any great thriller might. It’s filled with memorably scary set-pieces without resorting to excessive CGI manipulation. The sequence with Geraldine Chaplin as a medium is probably the best of all, though the scene where something or someone seems to have crawled into bed with Laura……..is also painfully suspenseful and elongated (before you can breathe again!)
In this way, it’s a real throwback to classic films of the past which didn’t have the luxury of computer effects and were solely reliant on the skill and imagination of their artists. There’s definitely the influence of The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents and The Others at work, but there’s such a strong individual stamp over every frame here that you never think of comparisons in a negative context. Cinematographer Oscar Faura is able to turn every dark corner and crevice into a place where menace may be lurking with his skillful lensing.
Not to give anything any, as I’m sure nobody else has, but the climax of the film is an extremely emotional one – to be honest, I was taken by surprise at how moving it was; how fitting as well, in that it almost feels like a weird kind of cosmic balance is restored as Fernando Velazquez’s superb score reaches its most tonal pitch.
It may take some trouble to find a cinema screening this Spanish chiller, but I’ll loudly join the growing chorus of advocates for this film to add that it’s more than worth the effort to see what is easily one of the films of the year so far.
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