The Orphanage

[d.a.walker]

This is my film of the year so far, absolutely beautifully done supernatural mystery about a woman who returns to the orphanage she grew up in to re-open it as a care facility for young troubled children.

If you haven't seen it, go see it ASAP!! It's been heralded by some critics rather incorrectly as this years Pan's Labyrinth, I think purely because it's another joint Spain/Mexico production, but it's a very different yet equally brilliant film.

I really love well done supernatural/ghost/mysteries, and this is at the top of the list! The cinematogrpahy is to die for too.

www.theorphanagemovie.com

[RobB]

Its got 7.8 on IMDB Daniel so its obviously been well received.

I'll certainly investigate it when it comes out on DVD but I do find subtitles a distraction.
If it was done carefully I'd sooner it was dubbed.

[d.a.walker]

i find dubbing much more distracting, mainly as the voices used are so uncharacteristic and dire. Plus the out-of-sync mouthing really is quite awful!

It's well worth seeing though!

[aermancer]

.

[RobB]

I've had this film on dvd for about a year now but forgot all about this thread.

Anyway, I watched the film again last night and have to say that i found it excellent.

Yes,there were subtitles but they were placed beneath the film (as opposed to over the film) and althought it meant my gaze was constantly being averted from the film itself, it wasn't too distracting or spoilt my enjoyment too much.

( Btww,I recently watched A Tale Of Two Sisters with the subtitles turned off as i've watched the film so many times now i can basically remember what the english translation is. Interestingly there were a lot of aspects to the film that appeared new to me now that i was concentrating solely on the film itself.Hmmm.... )

But to the The Orphanage itself. I thought the storyline was very well told and that the ambigious nature of the film (it was carefully edited so that it could be viewed as a supernatural and/or psychological story) kept things interesting to the end.
Most of the 'clues' to what was going on were carefully explained within the narrative towards the end without making everything too obvious.

I wouldn't call the Orphanage a 'horror film' (there are no real scary scenes as such) but just a genuine creepy atmosphere whether its the parents running through the waves on the beach or in the gloomy corridors and rooms of the orphanage itself. Perhaps the most memorable sequence is when the medium starts roaming the orphanage, whilst being followed on monitors.

The Orphanage has quickly become a favourite 'ghost story' film for me, along with The Others.
8/10