{"id":303,"date":"2008-03-01T20:05:28","date_gmt":"2008-03-01T19:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/03\/01\/the-orphanage\/"},"modified":"2008-03-01T20:05:28","modified_gmt":"2008-03-01T19:05:28","slug":"the-orphanage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/03\/01\/the-orphanage\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ORPHANAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 21 March 2008

\nVenues:<\/B> Coronet Notting Hill, London and nationwide

\nDistributor:<\/B> Optimum Releasing

\nDirector:<\/B> Juan Antonio Bayona

\nWriter:<\/B> Sergio G. Sí\u00a1nchez

\nOriginal title:<\/B> El Orfanato<\/I>

\nCast:<\/B> Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Prí\u00ad\u00c2\u00adncep

\nMexico\/Spain 2007

\n100 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nProduced by Guillermo del Toro, The Orphanage<\/I> is the debut feature of young Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. A ghost story set in a Spanish orphanage, it has much in common with its mentor’s masterful The Devil’s Backbone<\/I>, not least in its thoughtful use of the horror genre to explore the troubled mindset of a character confronted with loss and death. <\/p>\n

\nThe film opens on an idyllic scene from the past as a group of children play in the garden outside the orphanage on a windy spring day. Over two decades later, Laura, now a grown woman, returns with her husband Carlos and son Simí\u00ad\u00c2\u00b3n with the intention of turning her former abode into a house for special needs children. Soon after their arrival at the orphanage, Laura is visited by a strange old woman, Benigna, who reveals she knows confidential details about her family. When Simí\u00ad\u00c2\u00b3n disappears after a party at the house, the police immediately suspect Benigna. But six months later the search for Simí\u00ad\u00c2\u00b3n has yielded no result and strains start to appear in the couple. While Carlos wants to move on, Laura is prepared to try anything, including paranormal experiments involving a medium, to find some answers.<\/p>\n

\nWhile the plot is at times clumsy and unconvincing, the locations are well chosen: the house’s antique, dark wood manages to simultaneously evoke the warm cosiness of the past as well as the disturbing secrets it holds, and the rugged Spanish coast provides suitably gloomy and mysterious caves in which Simí\u00ad\u00c2\u00b3n meets a strange, invisible friend. With a genuinely creepy atmosphere that really grows on the audience as the story progresses, The Orphanage<\/I> is a subtle, moving horror film. Just as in The Devil’s Backbone<\/I>, ghosts are manifestations of a forgotten, tragic event and Bayona paints a deeply affecting portrayal of a grieving woman inexorably and fatefully drawn to the past. In that he is well served by Bélen Rueda’s magnificent performance as Laura. It is all the more surprising, then, that the generally restrained tone of the film should be marred by a couple of rather gory, unnecessarily shocking moments, in particular a grisly scene involving the victim of a road accident with a dislocated jaw. In spite of such faux-pas, however, The Orphanage<\/I> remains a very worthy addition to the type of soulful horror movies that del Toro himself has helped define.<\/p>\n

Virginie Sélavy<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Produced by Guillermo del Toro, The Orphanage<\/I> is the debut feature of young Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. A ghost story set in a Spanish orphanage, it has much in common with its mentor’s masterful The Devil’s Backbone<\/I>, not least in its thoughtful use of the horror genre to explore the troubled mindset of a character confronted with loss and death.
\nReview by Virginie Sélavy<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cinema-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-4T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2605,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/02\/22\/mama\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":0},"title":"Mama","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Guillermo del Toro is fast becoming the Steven Spielberg of horror. Review by Virginie Sélavy","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_mama-594x308.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_mama-594x308.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_mama-594x308.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1686,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2011\/05\/20\/julias-eyes\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":1},"title":"Julia’s Eyes","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"May 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The first few minutes of the film set out the stall for what is to follow, which is 90-odd minutes of splendid Gothic nonsense. Review by Mark Stafford","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/review_juliaseyes-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/review_juliaseyes-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/review_juliaseyes-594x395.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1830,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2011\/07\/13\/cell-211\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":2},"title":"Cell 211","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"July 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Monzón's Cell 211 is a terrific, angry piece of genre filmmaking. Review by Mark Stafford","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/review_cell211-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/review_cell211-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/review_cell211-594x394.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4928,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/09\/24\/painless\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":3},"title":"Painless","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"September 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Technically exemplary, Juan Carlos Medina\u2019s take on the Spanish Civil War is a difficult watch. Review by Jim Harper","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Painless","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Painless1-594x341.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Painless1-594x341.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Painless1-594x341.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1410,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/11\/07\/we-are-what-we-are\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":4},"title":"We Are What We Are","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"November 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"When a middle-aged man drops dead in a shopping mall in urban Mexico, black blood exuding from his mouth, he leaves a terrible legacy. He has been the sole hunter for his wife and children who, like him, are cannibals. Review by Nicola Woodham","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_WeAreWhatWeAre-594x253.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_WeAreWhatWeAre-594x253.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/review_WeAreWhatWeAre-594x253.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2220,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/03\/08\/black-bread\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":5},"title":"Black Bread","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Set in the years immediately following Franco's crushing victory, Black Bread is not just another story of the Spanish Civil War as seen through the eyes of an imaginative child. Review by Sarah Cronin","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/review_Panegre-594x418.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/review_Panegre-594x418.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/review_Panegre-594x418.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}