Has anyone else seen "The Orphanage"? I just rented it, and it is now one of my favorite movies of all time. It's directed by Guillermo del Toro who also did "Pan's Labyrinth" (another excellent flick) and like "Pan's Labyrinth", it's in Spanish with English subtitles. Getting over that detail, it's a beautifully written/executed, genuinely spooky movie, and unlike ghost story movies like "The Others" that sort of lose their magic after the mystery is revealed, "The Orphanage" concludes with a moving and emotional scene that has to be one of the best movie endings ever. It's a total must see. I'm thinking of buying it (and I never buy movies).
Thank you. I've put it on my NetFlix Queue. But Netflix says the director is Juan Antonio Bayona. Not Guillermo del Toro.
Thanks for the reminder. I've added it to my queue as well. I think the confusion arises because it's somehow distributed by del Toro (i.e., Guillermo del Toro presents...) so at first glance it's easy to assume it's a del Toro film.
Thanks, Scott. BTW, Pan's Labyrinth is also one of my favorites. A really beautiful film. Though I cannot make up my mind whether the ending is happy or sad!
Oops! I guess I should have said he is the executive producer. Wikipedia through me off by listing the movie under "Director filmography". ^_^
It's both. That's what I love about that movie. It's infinite sadness and infinite joy running in parallel. Awesome!
In all seriousness, as much as I like "Pan's Labyrinth", I think I may like "The Orphanage" even better! I'm curious to see what you guys think of it when it comes in the mail.
Okay, that one is going on the Netflix queue! I'm sure Netflix is going to wonder WHY this movie is suddenly so popular We enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth, too!
I must agree... The "Orphenage" was a great movie!! I have it on Bluray and the video and audio quality was superb. At first I did not know that there was no English audio version but got used to reading the subtitles pretty fast. Highly recommended!!
I doubt it. They probably have several million members. A dozen PC members putting a movie in their queues wouldn't even show up. Now if Oprah were to recommend a movie, NetFlix would probably notice.
ok im game...in a current long run of recent releases and their usual unpredictable mediocrity... some ok... some worthless. i have a bad habit of putting all new releases on my list if they even are slightly interesting to me... a good example, i am putting the Speed Racer movie on the list only because i was a huge fan of the cartoon when i was a kid. the movie, no doubt will be disappointing, but mostly because i've grown up and no longer feel that driving fast is cool...
I bet they have one copy, and given that Daniel was the first to put it on his queue, you can blame him if it doesn't arrive soon.
With a big name like Guillermo del Toro on it you can bet they've got a bunch of copies. This isn't your neighborhood Blockbuster store. This is a mega-corporation with millions of members and distribution/mailing centers in every medium-sized town in the country.
I still have that one Netflix copy, mailing it back tomorrow. Actually we have 2 queues, one for my boys and one for us, usually the ones my boys get are really off the wall. This one, I agree, fantastic movie, really glad we didn't sent it back without watching it! Too sad of an ending though! :hurt:
I watched The Orphanage last night. I give it 3 stars. The lead is a wonderful actress. But the plot drags on for about the first 2/3 until it finally begins to thicken. There is some intense pathos. I found the ending quite satisfying, both sad and happy. In my opinion it is not the "greatest ghost story ever." In my opinion it's about middling as a ghost story. I would never compare it to Pan's Labyrinth (a very poor choice of English title, IMHO for the original name: El Laberinto del Fauno.) Labyrinth was in my opinion a truly great movie.
