Day 1: The Orphanage – A

The first of 75 movies this summer. This was a good way to start. The Orphanage is produced by Guillermo del Toro, who also produced and directed Pan’s Labryinth. The Orphanage, in some sense, was better than Pan’s. It is quite suspenseful. It has elements of The Others. While parts of the movie were predictable, it would have been worse if they did not play out as expected. Laura (Belen Rueda) and Carlos (Fernando Cayo), along with their son, Simon (Roger Princep) move into a big house by the Spanish coast. The movie was shot in the town of Oviedo (in the summer resort area of Llanes) in the north-west coastal region of Asturias, Spain. This region used to be a kingdom in the middle ages, but is now an autonomous community within Spain. Known for its seafood, the most famous Asturian dish is fabada asturiana

, a bean stew, probably second only to Paella in terms of Spanish food.

Back to the movie: Turns out, the house used to be an orphanage where Laura grew up. Now she wants to, along with her doctor husband, open it up for a few special children (with Down syndrome). At the welcoming party (or probably like an open house), things start going wrong. Simon, the son, who normally plays with invisible friends, (the father attributes this to loneliness and says that once ‘real’ kids show up, he will get over it) disappears. That is when things start getting interesting. Eventually in order to find her son, Laura needs to figure out what the spirit of children, who seemingly were abused in the orphanage, want in exchange for letting her know Simon’s whereabouts. The end unravels the themes of the movie: a mother’s loneliness and how she dealt with loss. The movie, at times, can make one jumpy, owing to the use of silence and music. Well directed by first time director Juan Antonio Bayona.