'Orphan' movie suspenseful, disturbing
<center><b>Lynne Lynch</b></center>
Maybe seeing a horror movie isn’t everyone’s way of celebrating their wedding anniversary.
But it’s exactly what my husband, Kyle, and I did when we went out for dinner and a movie on July 24.
Before we left for the evening, I quickly scanned the movie selections listed in the newspaper and found the following: “G-Force” 3D, “G-Force” 2D, “The Ugly Truth,” “Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” 2D, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” “The Hangover,” “The Proposal” and “Orphan.”
After hearing a brief description of the movie, I selected ““Orphan”.” Despite unpleasant flashbacks of the movie the next day, I enjoyed the plot twists, some predictable, some not.
“Orphan” is the story about a family deciding to adopt a young girl after Kate Coleman, played by Vera Farmiga, gives birth to a stillborn daughter.
Kate and her husband, John, played by Peter Sarsgaard, visit an area orphanage and find Esther drawing pictures alone in an empty classroom.
Esther, portrayed by Isabelle Fuhrmann, enjoys artwork and wears outdated Little-Bo-Peep dresses. She appears to be an accomplished artist, a skill she attributes to having plenty of time on her hands. Hmmm … would this be time at the orphanage or at another place?
She constantly wears black velvet ribbons on her wrists and neck, a fashion choice that makes her the target of ridicule at school. Yes, another “hmmm” here.
Later into the movie, Kate becomes suspicious after Esther plays the family piano extremely well for such a young child. Kate recalls Esther previously saying she couldn’t play the piano.
Esther skillfully down plays the event, explaining she only accepted Kate’s offer to teach her to play.
The couple also has two other children, a daughter, Max, and a son, Daniel.
Max, who appears to be about 5, is young enough for Esther to boss around. But Daniel, about 12, is embarrassed by his new sister at school after she experiences problems fitting in with the other kids.
Dad John bonds with Esther. She gains an important ally, as John later won’t believe his wife’s concerns about Esther. It doesn’t help that Kate lost some credibility because of her past struggle with alcohol.
The stress of having Esther around drives Kate to buy a few bottles of wine, one of which she pours out and doesn’t drink. Esther finds the spare bottle and turns it into John.
Kate later finds out the results of her phone calls she made inquiring into Esther’s background.
SPOILER ALERT
The girl is really a 33-year-old woman with dwarfism. She somehow escaped a mental institution in Russia or Eastern Europe and made her way to the U.S.
I won’t ruin the ending for you, except to say all havoc breaks loose when others get in Esther’s way.
Lynne Lynch is the Columbia Basin Herald business and agriculture reporter. A few coworkers found her choice of an anniversary date movie interesting. She surprised a couple of them when she recommended it.
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