Movie Review: ‘ORPHAN’ (2009)

Vera Farmiga plays Kate, a mother of two children, who recently experienced a miscarriage.   Kate tries to fill the void of a sibling figure for her hearing impaired child Maxine (Aryana Engineer) and a new child in her life through the means of adoption.   Kate and her husband, John (Peter Sarsgaard), visit a orphanage to adopt a child and they meet Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman).   Esther wows the couple by showing how advanced she is in her artistic talent and her outlook on life.   Once Esther comes to the house, the younger son, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett – who played Young James T. Kirk in this year’s ‘Star Trek’) acts disinterested in her and feels threatened by her presence with the feeling that she is trying to take over.   Looks like Danny was right as Esther tries to seperate Kate away from John and uses Maxine to her advantage to get away with some violent acts.

The film starts out with Kate as a main focus and then transitions between Kate’s relationships with her daughter, Maxine, and John.   The whole film is really about relationships with family and if they are not as strong as they appear, they are vulnerable to attack from an outside force.   One of the best things about ‘Orphan’ is the performances.   Half of the cast relies on children, which is a deadly formula to films.   If the performances are not 100%, the film will fail. Isabelle Fuhrman delivers a great “kinder-villain” that you will definitely remember. Another strength behind the film is the fact that it pays more attention to the female side of the story.   John and Daniel take a back seat while Kate, Maxine and Esther are your main characters.   The dynamic between the three makes for a good thriller.   The mother wants to protect her family and Maxine wants a sister and is willing to stick by her to try to have the sister she always wanted.

While the film, initially, looked like a ‘The Bad Seed’ ripoff, I am happy to tell you it’s not.   Actually, Esther is more vicious than Rhoda – even though Rhoda didn’t have a real motive, unlike Esther.   While it seems like the studio didn’t let this wild child of a film go too far out of its sight, the film is edgy.   It hits some uncomfortable notes and isn’t afraid to show Esther in all of her sinister, violent glory.   Unlike ‘The Good Son’, you knew I had to mention it, Esther isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

‘Orphan’ isn’t a flawless film, but boy does it pack a punch.   The twist ending will be seen by most as pretty ridiculous, however…I enjoyed it.   I soaked it up for what it was because, by that point of time, your retinas have been exposed to many of the batshit crazy antics that take place in the film that it just seems plausible.   Films with twist endings sometimes loses the charm or appeal to re-watch it, yet I still end up watching this flick anytime it is on cable.