Thoughts on Orphan

Scary movies have a love-hate relationship with me. I always see the trailers and grow interested and then fight my reticence to see them. Almost always, immediately after exiting the theater I feel regret. Regret because I know I'm gonna be skittish all night long after watching a scary movie, yet again. Orphan, however, was enough of a draw (the trailer was suitably intriguing) for me to momentarily put aside my fears. I do not regret it.


Orphan is the story of the Coleman family and their newest member, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). We learn at the very beginning of the story that Coleman mother Kate (Vera Farmiga) had a miscarriage and that prompted her to attempt adoption. She already has two other kids: a partially deaf daughter named Max (Aryana Engineer) and a spoiled-yet-ignored son named Daniel (Jimmy Bennett). Her desire to make up for the miscarriage and get another kid is just too much, so she and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) register and start looking around orphanages. They eventually find a very charming and proper girl named Esther.


As is customary in these kind of movies (the child-from-hell genre, specifically), everything seems fine at first. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Esther has a dark side to her charming persona. Not only has she lied about her past, she actively undermines Kate and manipulates the people around her. One of the more odd things surrounding Esther is her fixation with the ribbons around her neck and wrists. She never removes them and any attempt to do so results in her screaming and flailing around. All of this arouses Kate's suspicions, but her misgivings about her new child are not well received by the people around her.


Even if the heroine-who-nobody-believes is a tired element in the horror genre, here it plays seamlessly; all thanks to Esther's machinations. What isn't half as easy to swallow is Farmiga's performance. She overacts in each and every scene she's in. You would think it's a bit hard to look fake when you're screaming after your endangered children (not much to do really, just scream and run after them), but Farmiga is so ham-endowed she even botches this.


More decent (though not by a long shot) is Sarsgaard's John, who (along with Kate, come to think of it) plays the stereotypical yuppie XXI century father. The scenes where he does lash out at Kate in frustration, however, ring true. Sarsgaard manages to remain bitter and oblivious yet oddly relatable.


The film's standouts lie not, however, with the adults. Rather, it's in Engineer and Fuhrman's performance's that the film really shines. Not only does their twisted sister dynamic manage to stay interesting; they also manage very decently when on their own.


Engineer's Max is a role that (much like Jadagrace Berry's in Terminator Salvation)requires her to be very expressive with her face without going overboard. Her fear and pain also genuinely make you feel sorry for her situation.


The cause of this fear and pain, of course, is the increasingly deranged Esther, who shines in Fuhrman's hands. She is charming, as noted above. This, of course, does not stop her from also being a chilling sociopath. It's the little things really: an evil glare here and there, a sadistic smile watching a fire, a realistic Russian accent, et al. The movie uses a lot of psychological thriller conventions, so the villain role really has to stand out for us to get interested. If it weren't for Fuhrman, the film wouldn't be half as interesting (or spooky) as it is.


Like I said above, the film works entirely within the conventions of the genre. These go from the lone-standing female heroine nobody believes to the shocking reveal of the villain's nature/identity. As a friend of mine noted, the makers of this film must have worked pretty hard to avoid stepping on clichés in this department. The ShockReveal isn't as shocking as others, but I'll still give it points on originality. Some better casting decisions and a tighter script around some scenes could've really elevated this to classic, Rosemary territory.

Le verdict: **

Thoughts on Up (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 3-D)

It is no secret that Pixar's 2008 film, WALL-E, moved me in ways I'd forgotten a movie could. The movie was delightful, adorable, and had an enchanting love story adding to its appeal. With such a hard act to follow, it's no surprise Up falls short of the bar WALL-E raised. This is not to say the film was bad; it just wasn't as great as their previous project. The movie is, however, thoroughly enjoyable. It's also the first Pixar endeavor presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film uses this effect very skillfully, adding depth and character to its scenes. It is a true testament to how much 3-D has grown up from the days it used to be mere flying-out-of-screen effects (I'm looking at you My Bloody Valentine 3-D).


The main characters are Carl Fredericksen and Russell. Carl is an old and curmudgeonly man who refuses to sell his house to a company building a skyscraper in the land surrounding it. Russell is a Wilderness Explorer who annoys Carl by asking whether he needs assistance so he can earn his "Assisting the Elderly" merit badge, the only one he hasn't earned.


Carl's wife Ellie passed away before either of them fulfilled their lifelong dream of visiting Paradise Falls, a South American jungle. Since her passing, Carl has become a sour hermit, missing her terribly. Design touches in the furniture and accesories of the characters lend glimpses into their natures. Ellie's furniture and glasses are all rounded and soft while Carl's are very square and severe. Without her adventurous and free-spirited presence, he's lost the joy she used to lure out of him. There's a brilliant sequence near the beginning that shows us Carl and Ellie's life from the moment they get married, through their discovery of their inability to have children, to her death. The whole thing lasts less than five minutes and yet it's the most moving scene I've seen this year. The effect is augmented by an excellent soundtrack (Key track: Married Life) that perfectly compliments what we see on screen.



Finally faced with an ultimatum, Carl finally decides to take the trip Ellie dreamed about and uproots his house using a cloud of balloons. What he doesn't realize is that Russell has stowed away with him; having been on his porch at the moment of liftoff. Together they reach Paradise Falls and find themselves dragging the house toward its destination. Russell then finds an enourmous and very colorful bird he names Kevin. Unlike Russell, who's comic relief annoyed me (Most characters like him do, it's not neccesarily the movie that's at fault.), Kevin provided some genuinely funny moments. The motley crew is rounded out by Dug, a talking golden retriever hunting Kevin on his master's orders.


This master turns out to be Charles Muntz, an explorer both Ellie and Carl admired as children. His adventures are what inspired Ellie's dream to move her clubhouse to Paradise Falls and Carl is ecstatic to meet his idol and talk about his advetures. What they don't realize is that Muntz has been hunting Kevin's species for years, trying to capture a live specimen to return with him to civilization. Muntz is a very effective antagonist, balancing heinous acts with some comic relief (Mostly poking fun at his old age.) and provides a nice contrast to Carl's ideas about his exploration dreams and what it'd be like to meet his hero.


All in all, the film is both an excellent adventure tale and a sweet story about how fulfilling your dreams should not keep you from realizing that life around you holds enough delights to keep you interested. It's fitting that Carl ends up happier back at home with Russell than isolated on Paradise Falls. It also has a very good message that doesn't get pushed on us like on most animated films. Having seen both the regular and the 3-D versions, I completely recommend you go with 3-D here. It's a much more enjoyable experience that way.

Le verdict: ***1/2