In a word, WOW! I actually ordered this from NetFlix and it was on the way to me yesterday when The Orphan popped up on HBO late last night. I was working late on my piece for The Walking Dead set visit and still a bit tired from the sweltering the day before on set, but... The Orphan had just started and I've been looking forward to seeing it. So I stayed up. Much to my body's chagrin, but here I was, slowly being swept up into the slow, but climbing tension filled story of The Orphan.
The pace of the film is almost hypnotic as you become involved with the characters one by one. A family of four decides to adopt after the couple has lost a child during pregnancy. Visiting a local orphanage, they find Esther (or did she find them?), a 9/10 yr, old and bring her home. Esther's true colors begin to show fairly quickly, and step mom picks up on the manipulation. But mom can't quite put her finger on what is happening to her home and family. Esther, is obviously young, but shows many elements of being "beyond her years" and this is what keeps mom, and us, on the edge. If you think you know what's going on, fugghet about it, just watch and be entertained.
And speaking of being on edge, this film kept me there throughout most of it's 2 hours. David Johnson's writing is very good in this film. Everything about this production is good from the directing, editing, and acting. This is one of those films that I'm sure didn't receive a lot of screens when it was released, but as a DVD will survive and grow with word-of-mouth (as of today, Netflix had 144,000 ratings! Impressive). So here's my vote of "watch this" and be sure to grab a drink and pop the popcorn first. You want to stay in your seat, well, at least on the edge of it, for this suspenseful and disturbing tale. I won't be adopting anytime soon.
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