paulclaassen
The film started off very interesting and then turned rather creepy as the girl resorted to evil-doing, but as the film progressed, it seemed to loose its impact. Isabelle Fuhrman was excellent as the girl. I pretty much found this to be a female version of 'The Good Son' - only that was an excellent film. 'Orphan' looses direction towards the end, and I did not like the twist ending (spoiler alert) where it is discovered the girl is actually a 33-year old woman trapped in the form of a little girl due to an illness. This reveal is over-dramatized and this was where I lost interest, and it actually ruined the film for me.
hearthstoneivan
6.9/10 Gets better and better the more ridiculous it gets. The ending really managed to breath life into the dullness of the first half. Excellent performances all around, even from the kids. Has all elements to be a really good movie, but it happens to be just ok. Probably worth watching, wasn't in flamboyant love with it. Really appreciated that it dared to go in such a twisted direction in the end.
LuxuryJesper
I'm not going to write a summary of the movie like 9/10 other reviews starts of with - all of you probably know the storyline already. What stands out for me about this movie, is the small things/details. In the beginning, we get to know Esther as an articulate, intelligent (how she expresses her paintings, how fast she's able to learn sign language etc.) and open-minded girl. But, the more we get to know her, the more we find out just how cold she is, and how she's able to use these skills into manipulating others around her. The first sign, is when she kills the bird Daniel shoots, with a rock. The right thing to do, to put an animal that's going to die anyway, out of its misery. I think most of us can agree on this. But, the way she just coldly crush the bird, and the over-the-top blood-splattering- everywhere, is very effective. Both Daniel and Max here find out, that this girl is not your usual 9-year old stepsister. Afterwards - through several scenes - we find out the same. As earlier mentioned, what I really enjoyed about this movie, was the details. How fast she learns sign language. Only to find out, that the reason behind this was to faster becoming friends with Max, so she for instance could exploit her skills of lip reading. She also uses her, into helping her covering up a murder. This isn't only based on force, but also using Max's feelings about her "sweet" sister: "Here's a mean lady here. She's come to take me away. Will you help me?" to her advantage. She use's her skills, knowledge and (fake) open-mindedness concerning Max's and Daniel's "flaws", such as lack of interest, stupidity and immaturity, to her advantage. She tries to learn playing the piano, so Kate can teach her. Only to find out, that she's a master at playing, and only pretend to not knowing how to play, so Kate would find enjoyment teaching her, and hopefully make her look less at her own children/appreciate Esther more: "It must be frustrating for someone who loves music as much as you to have a son who isn't interested and a daughter who can't even hear." Daniel's lack of maturity is especially visible during the dinners, where she keeps cold and sweet, to make him look like an asshole while he's bullying her. Only to make him look dumb with a total lack of knowledge, when commenting and correcting him on his comments on where she's from. In another scene, she makes him look even worse, when she's telling him what Max – his own sister – is saying, when he asks. These episodes provoke him into bullying her even more, and therefore making him look even more immature. And I haven't even started on Kate yet… All of these things are very significant for a psychopath. To create a deception of yourself, a way of exploiting people by charming, manipulating them and giving them false impressions, only to take advantage of their feelings/skills – sometimes through blackmailing. The director really gets this into the light, by scene after scene giving the audience clues as to what kind of person we're dealing with here, and what she's capable of. Me, I care less about the plot of the movie. That she's from an asylum in Estonia, that she's actually 37-years old or whatever. What I care about, is the way of building the character of Esther. Her behavior, her level-by-level shown personality development, through verbal, nonverbal and physical actions. All the things happening to the family, which makes it (especially Kate) to crack, is of course horrible. But in my opinion, the movie's greatest strength is the character development through mystery. I can highly recommend this.
