Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Orphanage/El Orfanato (2007) - Bayona arrives with memorable, haunting horror

9/20/2022

The Orphanage/El Orfanato (2007) - Bayona arrives with memorable, haunting horror

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Star Belén Rueda stands in a dark corridor among what appears to be ghost children on this poster for J.A. Bayona's The Orphanage

A married couple with an adopted son want to reopen an old orphanage, which the woman Laura once lived in, but when their son Simón disappears, the place transforms from a place of promise into a sinful nightmare.

The Orphanage is written by Sergio G. Sánchez (7337 (2000, short)) and directed by great Spanish filmmaker, debuting J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls (2016)). The title is a literal translation of the original Spanish title.

SPOILER The house is haunted with masked children in The Orphanage, and there are shocks and a frightening medium scene, in which sound design is used to strike violently upon the gasping viewer. But the film's real brilliance may be the way it so finely balances warmly inviting the audience back to the innocent magic of childhood, - and gruesome, very adult offenses on the contrasting side.

SPOILER The ending is tragic, - but not devastating, - bringing to my mind H.C. Andersen's The Story of a Mother (1847). It perfectly fulfills this fairytale-reminiscent nightmare. Executive producer Guillermo Del Toro's preceding, more widely seen and hailed Pan's Labyrinth (2006) pales in comparison to The Orphanage, I find.

Related posts:

J.A. Bayona: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - Ideals blow up in Bayona's grand and timely dino spectacle
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
A Monster Calls (2016) - Bayona forgets the sugar in overly gloomy adaptation turkey

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
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Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012) - The 2004 tsunami depicted in one of the strongest disaster films ever

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4 mil. $

Box office: 78.6 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 19.65 times its cost)

[The Orphanage premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, Golden Camera section) and runs 97 minutes. The first draft was written in 1996. Sánchez gave Bayona his script in 2004. With Del Toro's support, the financing came together with 14 production companies and support bodies collaborating. Shooting took place from May - July 2006 in Spain. The film opened #27 to a 233k $ first weekend in 19 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 707 theaters, grossing 7.1 mil. $ (9 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. Its biggest and 2nd biggest were Spain with 37.7 mil. $ (48 %), - here it was the biggest opening of the year with an 8.3 mil. $ four-day launch, - and Mexico with 11.6 mil. $ (14.8 %). The film was nominated for 5 European Film awards and won 7/14 Goya awards, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. A much talked about US remake never came to fruition. Bayona returned with La Desgracia en 3D (2008, short), Nena Daconte: El Aleph (2009, music video) and theatrically with The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012). Belén Rueda (The Sea Inside/Mar Adentro (2004)) returned in 8 Citas (2008). The Orphanage is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Orphanage?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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9/20/2022

The Orphanage/El Orfanato (2007) - Bayona arrives with memorable, haunting horror

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