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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.249.146
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 09:03 am: | |
So this week I saw two different films with opposing approaches about similar themes.
THE ABANDONED is Nacho Cerda's strange, beautiful meditation on mortality. An adopted women returns to Russia to see her long-dead mother's rural farmhouse and attempt to discover what happened when she was abandoned as a child. The approach is oblique and original, the scares are frequent, and the tension never lets up. This is a strange, troubling and unique little film, one that has stayed in my mind all week.
THE ORPHANAGE bears the hallmark of Guillermo del Toro, but director Juan Antonio Bayona gives us his own vision. Spain seems to be producing some amazing horror films lately and this one is no exception. The cinematography is ravishing, the story languid and genuinely creepy, and the end result is a tour-de-force in supernatural cinema. Even a flurry of cliches throughout and a slight lurch into sentimentality at the very end fail to diminish the power of this film. Frankly, I loved it. |
Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.188.221
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 09:30 am: | |
Glad you liked them, Gary. I liked The Abandoned, but haven't posted about it yet as I want to watch it again first. My thoughts on The Orphanage (along with John's, Craig's, Hubert's and other folks') are on the earlier thread devoted to that film (I think it crops up on other threads too - maybe the Spanish horror one, or the Mist one). |
Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.147.51.96
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 11:27 am: | |
Just read a review that says sound is overused in The Abandoned, that the atmosphere isn't allowed to build because of sudden whispers and noises. A shame if it's true (I checked out the trailer; it was noisy, too!). |
Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 01:38 pm: | |
I didn't find that, Tony - indeed, I thought it pretty much ignored the current fad of shaky-cam and silly whispery-shushy noises. The atmosphere the film builds is filled with dread and despair.
The sound effects used all signify something in the film - voices in another room, the wind ouitside, etc - rather than being products of a crap soundtrack. |
Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 218.168.197.28
| | Posted on Monday, June 23, 2008 - 11:12 am: | |
Having just watched it again, I thought there were some effectively creepy scenes in The Abandoned, but ultimately it all dragged on too long to be an enjoyable film, and was unnecessarily convoluted. The film really didn't make much sense. Lots of style, not much substance. |
Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 124.181.97.138
| | Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 01:23 pm: | |
Just scored 'The Orphanage' for $10! - roughly 4.80 GBP. Happened to find it on E-bay, with only 30 minutes left on the auction. The seller is in Australia, so postage is almost nothing. |
Karim Ghahwagi (Karim)
Username: Karim
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 83.93.30.31
| | Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 01:26 pm: | |
That depends- what if you live on the north pole, and the last 1000 miles are by dog sleigh. |
Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 124.181.97.138
| | Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2008 - 01:42 pm: | |
I'm also in Aus. so a dog sleigh shouldn't be necessary. |