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

♥♥♥♥♥

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.

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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]
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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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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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William Friedkin has died

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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

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Wolfgang Petersen has died

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Philip Baker Hall has died

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9/20/2022

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

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