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Child’s Play
Spanish director J.A. Bayona discusses his hot new horror
film The Orphanage
BY LAWRENCE FERBER
One of the year’s most buzzed-about—and frightening—films
is Spain’s The Orphanage, a stylish, atmospheric ghost/horror/drama
from first-time feature director J.A. Bayona.
With an effective series of jolts, suspenseful set pieces,
the film keeps-you-guessing the balance between fantasy and
reality, references to genre classics, and a solid emotional
core and characters, The Orphanage is this year’s Pan’s
Labyrinth, and in fact it was produced by that film’s
Guillermo Del Toro.
To discuss his film, its “bear” producer, and
the Spanish gay fave bands he directed videos for, Bayona
called from his Barcelona home.
The Orphanage has been likened to 2001’s The Others—was
it an influence?
Not really. We were working on The Orphanage before The Others
was released in Spain. That was one of the problems we had
at the beginning—no production company wanted to pick
up the project because they thought there were too many movies
of the same kind at the moment. Also they rejected all the
things in the script we really liked. We showed it to script
doctors and they told us the movie was an impossible mix
of horror and drama—things that for us were the reasons
we wanted to do the movie.
How did you win the arguments?
I didn’t try to win. I just listened to all these people
and decided to do whatever I wanted. The great thing about
being a director in Spain is you always have the final decision.
Early in the film, it is revealed that Simon is living with
HIV. Not the type of thing that’s usually touched on
in a ghost story. Was this always in the screenplay?
Yes, it was always in the screenplay, but not always in the
editing room until the last minute—we were not sure
whether to [be specific about] the illness of the child.
Then we decided it would be better to let the audience know.
If not, they would be too much intrigued by that. And for
us, that says a lot about the character of Laura—she
is always trying to protect people with disabilities. She
is obsessive about taking care of people who need it.
I loved the sequence where a group of paranormal investigators
investigate the orphanage —an homage to Poltergeist?
Yeah, it’s an obvious homage… But one of the
things that makes the sequence different is this idea that
the whole story could be read as something real or a [fantasy].
That is why we never use digital effects or cheap tricks.
We try to keep both readings—as a classical ghost story
or a realistic story about the downfall of a woman who can’t
deal with the loss of her child.
In that regard it’s very much like a relative of Pan’s
Labyrinth.
Yeah, both movies deal with the idea of how we need fantasy
to understand reality.
Speaking of Pan’s, is Guillermo aware he is a bear?
An ‘oso,’ as it were?
(Laughs) I don’t think so, but I’m going to tell
him right now in an e-mail. There is a bear club just next
door to my apartment.
Do they woof you?
Ha ha. No, I’ve never been inside.
Do you feel gays appreciate horror films more than straight
audiences?
I don’t know. I think gay people respond sometimes
more than others to movies in general. If you think about
Spain’s directors—Almodovar, Ventura Pons, Augusti
Villaronga—they are all very successful and they are
gay.
You directed videos for the band Fangoria, which is huge
with the Spanish gays.
Yeah. And OBK. They aren’t gay but do electropop—I
did 13 or 14 music videos for them and they look like the
Pet Shop Boys because they play the same kind of music and
are two boys. If you look on YouTube you can find Fangoria
and OBK. The thing is that once you start to work with one
of these bands all the other ones call you!
ON SCREEN
The Orphanage
Starring Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep
R,
110 min. (Picturehouse)
This chiller from Spain is an effective nightmare-inducer.
Rueda stars as Laura, a woman who returns as an adult to
the orphanage where she was raised in the waning days of
the Franco regime. She and her husband Carlos (Cayo) hope
to open a home for special-needs children, but before they
can get the facility open, they've got to deal with problems
from their adopted son Simón (Príncep), who's
been having issues with “imaginary” friends.
Simón claims to have made new friends around the orphanage,
but is he just making them up? Or do Laura's old playmates
still live there as ghosts? When the boy disappears, Laura
is drawn into a parent's worst nightmare, and the movie brilliantly
balances psychological drama and mystery story. Young
director Juan Antonio Bayona leads us into a wonderfully
labyrinthine plot that will keep audiences guessing when
they're not shrieking with fright. —ALONSO DURALDE
Dirty Laundry
Starring Rockmond Dunbar, Loretta Devine, Alec Mapa
NR, 100
min. (Twentieth Century Fox)
How to write a trite African-American family comedy—Act
One: “Hey, Mr. Big-Shot City Slicker, go home and see
your family and learn about what's really important in life.” Act
Two: “Jesus! Praise him!” Act Three: “Even
though I enjoy my life in the city, my family and my faith
are what's really important.” Tyler Perry's made a
whole career out of these clichés, and now they're
turning up in Dirty Laundry. A clomping, unfunny comedy,
Laundry is the kind of movie that usually gets a mercy-fuck
festival run before getting dumped on DVD, but it's somehow
making its way into theaters. Wasting a perfectly talented
cast—Dunbar, Devine, Mapa, and Jenifer Lewis all deserve
way better—this prodigal returns (but zing, he's gay!)
the story features dreadful writing and direction by Maurice
Jamal (The Ski Trip). There is, sadly, a paucity of black
voices in queer cinema, but crap movies like this one aren't
the solution. —A. D.
Worth Repeating
The Crying Game [1992]
When The Crying Game first came out a friend and I, while
shopping for food of the munchie variety, decided to walk
to the theatre a couple of blocks away and see it. Neither
of us was expecting much. In fact, she and I had both been
purposefully steering clear of it. The hullabaloo created
by the film's “secret” had put us off more than
a little; not the secret itself, mind you, but the fact that
so many people, critics especially, were so hellbent on keeping
such a small (well, not that wee, actually) detail so private
annoyed us immensely. After Jaye Davidson's first appearance
on screen, though, the jig was up. How so many people could
actually be shocked was beyond us, but then again this was
a time before Jerry Springer and Maury Povich were trotting
out trannies for the masses amusement.
This film, though, is not a trifle of trannie amusement,
and it is a movie that should never be relegated as such;
the perversity of political ideals, man's inhumanity towards
his brethren, and the fact that love, in its most basic form,
can surpass the gender and sexual rigidity of societal constraints
are the grander themes at play within the film. And though
lofty ideals they may be, The Crying Game is able to pull
them off without ever preaching or sinking to depths of mere
maudlin treacle. While I applaud these facets of the film,
there are also two very callow reasons for wandering back
in this film's violent little world—Miranda Richardson
at her bitchiest, and the amazing performance by Jaye Davidson,
because deep down everyone knows that naughty girls need
love too. —JAMIE BARTON
FIVE QUESTIONS
Sandra Valls
L.A.-based, Mexican-American lesbian comedian Sandra Valls
is one of four Latina funnywomen—including Sara Contreras,
Monique Marvez, and the late Marilyn Martinez—featured
in the raucous The Original Latin Divas of Comedy, coming
to DVD Dec. 11.
1 FRONTIERS: How did you become one of the Latin Divas?
SANDRA VALLS: [Producer] Scott Montoya, who is my manager
now, saw me and liked me and said, “I'm going to
get you involved because I think we need to hear your story
too.” We wanted to show a different variety of Latinas—we
have Puerto Rican, we have a very, very straight Cuban
perspective. [Mexican] Marilyn Martinez, God rest her soul,
just passed away a few weeks ago from colon cancer.
2 Did any of the girls have an issue with you being a lesbian?
Hell no! They didn't. They were really wonderful, powerful
women and we all stuck together. I'm trying to break stereotypes
across the board. The only issue I had was that Scott wanted
me to wear a gown. I'm all, I'm not wearing a gown! The Latin
Kings didn't have to wear fucking crowns.
3 You got into comedy thanks to an ex-girlfriend who signed
you up for comedy classes as a 'consolation prize' when she
dumped you. Was your whole first routine just ragging on
her ass?
I just talked about whatever, like “Hey, what the fuck
is up with decaf coffee?”—observational stuff—and
the teacher was like, “You're much more funny when
you talk about your girlfriend.” She actually heard
my comedy and she appreciated it. Ever since then I've been
like, “I really love this and you're going to pay me
to be myself?”
4 You have a MySpace page. Do you get any scary friends requests?
I have stalkers, well I call them stalkers, and I have deleted
some friends because they talked to me a little bit too much
about the gay thing and how they're against it. I love MySpace,
actually, because if you have the opportunity to have a platform
where you can reach a lot of people, to be an advocate and
touch people's lives in whatever possible way, I say do it.”
5 You just appeared at the HBO Comedy Festival with Eva Longoria.
Was she totally hot?
Totally hot, totally cool, totally cute. I've known her for
a while. I tried my best to convert her but she was playing
craps all night. I tried everything!
For more information, visit www.welovesandra.com.
LIMITED RUN
The Simpsons Movie
While Homer accidentally pollutes Springfield's water supply
and the Simpsons' family are declared fugitives, enjoy
happy hour beforehand, then dinner during the film.
Fri., Dec. 21. Cinespace. 6-10 p.m. 323/817-3456. www.cinespace.info.
Double
Feature
A Christmas Story is told from the perspective of Ralphie
Parker, who sets to convince everyone that a shot range
model air rifle would be the perfect gift. National Lampoon's
Christmas Vacation follows suburban dad Clark Griswold,
who finds his plans for the perfect Christmas going awry.
Fri., Dec. 21. Aero Theatre. 7:30 p.m. www.americancinematheque.com.
It's
A Wonderful Life
This holiday classic captures the legendary James Stewart
at his finest as the distraught George Bailey, a man about
to commit suicide on Christmas Eve until he runs into a
helpful, elderly angel.
Sun., Dec. 23. 7:30 p.m. Aero Theatre. www.americancinematheque.com.
The
Pornography of the Bicycle
A series of short films on the theme of bike porn includes
some gay-themed stories. Bike Porn includes the live action
reenactment of the 2006 World Naked Bike Ride.
Fri., Dec. 28. Vine Theatre. 8:30 p.m. $10. 323/463-6819.
http://bikeporntour.blogspot.com.
2 Minutes Later
Amid the abundance of full-frontal male nudity, a hunky gay
man and a lesbian private eye investigate the vanishing
of his twin brother, a photographer specializing in erotic
portraits.
Wed., Jan. 9. Rigler Theatre at The Egyptian. 7:30 p.m. www.outfest.org.
HOMO MUST
For the Bible Tells Me So
Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Outfest, this
documentary uncovers the experiences of five American families
and demonstrates how insightful people of faith handle
the realization of having an openly gay child.
Sat., Jan. 12. Christ Chapel of the Valley. Free. 818/468-2928.
www.christchapel.com.
ON SCREEN
New York, New York 30th Anniversary Edition
Robert DeNiro,
Liza Minnelli
Best known for introducing the anthemic title tune, Martin
Scorsese’s ode to the Hollywood musicals he grew up
watching is perhaps the director’s most divisive film
(now available in a deluxe two-disc set). Unfairly maligned
during its initial 1977 release for a lengthy running time,
its immensely unlikeable characters (DeNiro plays bandleader
Jimmy Doyle like a bugle blowing Travis Bickle), and for
the sometimes jarring clash of artifice with Scorcese’s
raw, realistic sensibility, the musical has since garnered
a near cult following and the film resembles a work of art
as much as Scorsese’s more popular triumphs. There’s
much to admire here including the performance of Minnelli
(a one-woman homage to the classic studio musical and here
at the height of her belting prowess) and especially the
dazzling, ironic “Happy Endings” number, cut
from the original release. Nearly as entertaining are the
documentaries on the second disc that detail the behind-the-scenes
tumult (the director had a drug-fueled affair with his leading
lady). —JEREMY KINSER
Hurrah! A Year of Ta-Dah
Scissor Sisters
Any band with an openly gay front man and a penchant for
glitter equal to my own immediately has my vote before even
getting out of the gate. Now, that being said, I must add
that the latest concert performance DVD release from the
Scissor Sisters, Hurrah!A Year of Ta-Dah is a tad disappointing.
Sure the concert footage filmed at London's O2 arena is fun
and the behind-the-scenes documentary is entertaining—but
it all seems a little cold. Perhaps by the time the band
got around to making the documentary they were simply worn
out from the constant touring and perpetual party atmosphere
that envelops everything they do. Which isn't to say that
I'm not looking forward to their next outing. No matter what,
I'm standing by my man and given Jake Shears' proclivity
to tight pants and silver glitter—she's my man. —GEORGE
SKINNER
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