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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
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Elegant, atmospheric Orphanage worth a visit |
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| Elegant, atmospheric Orphanage worth a visit | ||
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by Nick Ardizzone -
SGN Staff Writer THE ORPHANAGE OPENING JANUARY 4 Director Juan Antonia Bayona's The Orphanage is a refreshing change from the usual horror fare. Graceful and supernatural, it nonetheless stays firmly grounded by its earthy plot and deep performances, as well as its noble choice to forgo cheap horror clichés in favor of more cerebral - and much more satisfying - scares. The movie - Spain's entry in this year's Oscar race for Best Foreign Film - runs entirely in subtitled Spanish, but any distracting language barrier is trumped by the simple fact that The Orphanage is so fluent in the language of fear. Laura (Belén Rueda) and her husband buy the orphanage where she grew up with altruism in mind - they plan to turn the creaky old house into a home for sick children. They also look forward to having other children around their son, Simón, since the boy only plays with imaginary friends. All is progressing nicely until Simón "meets" a new friend, Tómas, who plays a little differently than Simón's other inventions. Following a visit from a mysterious social worker, Simón somehow learns of the secrets Laura has been hiding from him his whole life: he is adopted and HIV-positive. Simón's interactions with Tómas ramp up dramatically, and he suddenly disappears - kidnapped, taken by vengeful spirits, vanished into his fantasy world? - leaving Laura to search frantically for him using all the tools at her disposal, from detectives to mediums. Rueda plays the part of the grieving mother with tremendous finesse. Her suffering is by turns overwhelming and subtle, and Rueda works the entire range without overdoing it. She is so genuine that the progression of her actions seems entirely rational, even when she starts talking to dolls. The quality of the acting in horror movies is rarely worth mentioning - had this been an American film, it would have likely starred Jessica Biel in a rain-soaked T-shirt - but Rueda's excellent performance elevates The Orphanage to the league of serious dramas. Although Guillermo Del Toro's producer credit is featured prominently on posters and ads, this movie is absolutely not Pan's Labyrinth. The difference is as simple as a child's fantasy versus the fantasy of an adult, a world of golden keys and fairies versus a world of kidnapping and watching as the time to find your HIV-positive son slips away. The themes of loss are easier to parallel to Guillermo's own The Devil's Backbone, but where that film was a poignant metaphor with a sad-eyed ghost boy, The Orphanage is intense and terrifying. Make no mistake, this is a scary movie, and anyone expecting a lush escape like Labyrinth will be in for a heart-pounding shock. Bayona uses the visual cues of horror films (and you can play name-that-shot if you like, from The Omen to The Haunting to The Spirit of the Beehive) but skirts deftly around the obvious to create fresh and unexpected scares. There are very few moments when the action comes from where you expect it to, but there are no fake-outs ("It's behind you! Oh, no, there's nothing- IT'S IN FRONT OF YOU!) and all the anticipation creates layers of delicious tension. I was hesitant when they wired the house with cameras and monitors, Poltergeist-style, thinking the movie was about to devolve into grainy night-vision security cam scares, a la the remade House on Haunted Hill. What followed instead was a slow-burn sequence that showed how unsettling the monitors' small screens and crackly sound system could be. When a plot contrivance threatened to turn the rest of the movie into a haunted scavenger hunt, Bayona pulled it out of a cinematic tailspin without breaking a sweat. He conducts the terror like a maestro, keeping you guessing whether that creeping POV shot is purely cinematic or something more sinister. Perhaps strongest of all is the movie's ending, simply because less is often more. There is no Shyamalonian cornball twist, no hokey reversal like The Others, just something that ties up the loose ends concretely and with a minimum of flash. In a move indicative of the rest of the film, everything is handled with a grace and maturity that belies Bayona's mere handful of director credits. The prologue is either heart-wrenching or overbearingly maudlin, depending on your innate cynicism, but don't be surprised if you shed a tear instead of roll your eyes. The more you've been disappointed with most recent scary movies, the more you'll enjoy The Orphanage. Where tortureporn flicks like the Saw movies rely on gimmickry to accommodate their silly plots, director Bayona lets his movie be driven by the grief and vulnerability of a desperate mother. Add some orphan ghosts and you've got what discerning moviegoers have been looking for: less cheap scares and gore, and more pure, unrelenting terror. |
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