Reaction: THE ORPHANAGE

In all my TIFF excitement, I almost forgot to give a plug. My little brother is a contributor to the TIFF Midnight Madness blog. He’s had some pretty cool moments already – take a look at his stuff over here.

So tonight it was time for some Spanish eeriness by way of THE ORPHANAGE (* * *). The movie was directed by first time director Jaun Antonio Bayona, and produced by Guillermo del Toro. Bayona himself is quite the character, as he was rather funny in his introduction. He seemed nervous that there were “so many” people there to see his film, but broke the tension by teaching the audience to say “I just shit my pants” in Spanish.

The film itself is tremendously cool, beautiful, and gorgeously creepy. The story is about a family that moves into an estate that was once an orphanage – specifically the orphanage that the mother was raised in as a little girl. The house holds a secret or two, and it doesn’t take long for things to get pretty weird. There are some great scares in the movie, and a few really mind-twisting moments. If there’s one downside of the movie, it will be the inevitable comparisons to THE OTHERS (co-incidentally, directed by fellow Spaniard Alejandro Amenabar). Still, this one gave me far more goosebumps than THE OTHERS. If you aren’t convinced, check out the poster for the film:

…yeah, exactly. Pleasant dreams!

Well the little clock in the corner tells me that it’s 1am, which means I have four and a half hours to get some sleep before trying my luck at The Manulife Centre tomorrow morning. catch ya tomorrow folks.

Hey, Isn’t That… Juan Antonio Bayona, and Belen Rueda

You Gotta Try This… Got dinner at Hey Lucy’s before my show. It’s at 295 King Street West – steps from both Roy Thompson Hall and The Scotiabank. Pretty much everything on the menu is good, and reasonably priced. Just make sure you aren’t in a hurry – they have been amazingly slow lately.

Do I Need a Coat?… A mix of sun & clouds with the humidity finally easing off. 25ºC but it’ll still feel more like 30.