Posts Tagged ‘great’

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464141/

Dir. Juan Antonio Bayona

A problem I find when watching a lot of horror is that more focus is placed on jumps and gore than on atmosphere and psychology. Fear is a complex emotion, what scares one person may not scare another, and so more time is spent just making cheap jumps rather than putting the effort to create something effective and resonating. This isn’t a new problem, genre film is always filled with hack work, but there has been a recent boom with the popularity of ‘torture-porn’ movies like Hostel.

The Orphanage is entirely removed from these issues. It’s a slow-burning, well crafted ghost story that allows the horror to be formed through the atmosphere rather than with cheap jumps or graphic gore. It tells the story of a woman, Laura, who spent her childhood in an orphanage and has returned, as an adult, with her husband and son to reopen it as a home for handicapped children. Shortly before opening her son begins to act strangely, talking to his new imaginary friend, and things don’t seem quite right.

Often when visiting old genres or styles of horror a film can lack effectiveness or impact, the fear stolen away by cliché or predictability and while The Orphanage is a traditional ghost story it doesn’t fall into this trap thanks to its impeccable production. The visuals are crisp and beautifully designed with the Orphanage itself an imposing location both inside and out. It has great turn of the century architecture and keeps a sense of decay and age, even when the family have moved in and done some renovations. The lighting complements the production design using shadow and highlight to enhance the atmosphere of each scene, which ranges from the lighter, happier scenes, to the creeping horror that builds.

The two things that I found the most impressive and effective in creating a fearful atmosphere were the sound and the editing. The sound design is stunning, the Orphanage itself feels like it has a voice, one of escalating malevolence throughout the film; each creak, each footfall, each crack of metal feels portentous. This works so well because it plays on sounds we are used to in our own homes and lives. Everyone’s house has its own personality of noises, a blend of building stresses, boilers and appliances that you get used to over time, yet in a strange building these sounds become amplified in our minds and have a strong mysterious power to scare.

Editing is, without a doubt, one of the most important things in horror cinema. Timing is what creates horror (and comedy) and if it is out by even a split second, the fear is lost. The Orphanage has absolutely perfect timing; building the atmosphere and tension of its scenes without ever letting shots linger or lose their impact.

I was impressed with the performances throughout. Belen Rueda as Laura is absolutely perfect, the film is carried on her shoulders and she does it with incredible intensity. Roger Princep as the son, Simon, is surprisingly good, it’s not often a child of his age can act as well as he does, and from watching the special features on the DVD it’s clear a lot of this came from the careful and passionate direction. I think seeing how he worked with Princep from the rehearsals to the filming is something that all aspiring directors should watch.

Finally I’d like to talk about one of the events within the film. I won’t say what part of the film it is, but it will be clear to anybody who has seen it and will stay vague enough for those who still want to watch it. There is a moment, a reveal, which is stunningly harsh and emotional that it took me aback. I was absolutely amazed by it, it felt so raw and yet so appropriate but I had not expected it to be done in the film. It is these kind of elements that raise The Orphanage to lofty heights in modern horror cinema, and it’s probably the best Spanish-language film I’ve seen yet.

I’m saddened that there is an American remake on the way, solely because people are unwilling to read subtitles, because the film is an obvious labour of love. It needs no alteration, no “Hollywood touch” and I cannot imagine any way that the remake could come out anything other than as a bastardisation of the original.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

Dir. Neill Blomkamp

The trailers for District 9 drew me in. The striking visuals and the idea of a film that combined sci-fi and an examination of apartheid attitudes and injustices were irresistible to me. I was curious but unsure of how it would form a two-hour story as the trailers, rather nicely, did not allude to the character tale. What I found upon watching was an absolute masterpiece and the most accomplished piece of sci-fi cinema for years.

The opening sequence of the film does a fantastic job of explaining the backstory of the aliens arrival and gradually introducing Wikus. His status as the main character of the piece is brought in quietly, turning the film from its documentary style into a traditional narrative piece without making the transition awkward or unwanted. The world is built very carefully and convincingly with the appropriate visuals of South African slums (and was filmed in a real slum) and the creation of derogatory language and attitudes. It takes established racist ideals and applies them to the aliens, allowing for a very harsh and realistic portrayal which connects with the audience deeply. This allegorical setup allows for a chance, albeit a slim one, for some actual bigoted people to re-examine their own attitudes as they will be less affected by their established prejudices, though this is really just some idealistic thinking on my part.

The main character of Wikus is portrayed in an astonishing performance by Sharlto Copely who had never acted before. He starts off as a despicable, but believable, bigot. He is a horrible character, seeing himself as much more important than the ‘prawns’ that he is charged with forcing out their homes to what is, essentially, an internment camp. What makes his performance, and the writing and direction of the piece, so brilliant is his evolution. It’s common in a film that has societal tensions at its heart to have a character who learns the error of their ways, but usually it is done in a single act, a shining Hollywood moment where they redeem themselves without ever showing that even an iota of thought has gone into this transformation. In District 9 Wikus does evolve but it is slow and honest; he keeps some of his bigoted and selfish nature for the majority of the film, even after seeing what the company he was working for has been doing to the aliens, even after they try to kill him simply because he can operate an alien weapon. He has to think, to make mistakes and to truly understand the plight of the aliens before he changes and it is done with absolute perfection in performance and direction.

The rest of the cast, and the digital performances of the aliens, are uniformly excellent. You feel connected to the aliens in exactly the same way you would a human, which is the true test of a CGI character when surrounded by real people, and one that I think has only been done this well once before, in The Lord of the Rings with Gollum. Blomkamp has said in that he felt a little disappointed that he had to have a humanoid alien because it is the only way to create real empathy with the audience, but while it does not fit to his original vision, it does not take from the story and emotion he wants to tell.

The production of the film is among the very best there is. The direction is fabulous, the cinematography both beautiful and appropriate in the right situations, the effects are convincing and the score is expertly integrated. It is a stunning first feature and I cannot wait to see where Blomkamp will go, he is already an accomplished director and it seems from this he could become a modern great.

I have heard from people who didn’t like the film, or called it boring, but I honestly cannot see where they are coming from. Often you can understand another perspective on a film but this is one of the few films where I literally cannot fathom how someone couldn’t enjoy it. Possibly my favourite film of 2009.