Baron Ronan Doyle With his third film as director Neds seeing release just recently, the previous two films of Peter Mullan were given a back-to-back television showing. I managed to catch his first, Orphans, having never before heard anything of it.Meeting to mourn the loss of their mother, four Glaswegian siblings gather in a pub. When an inconsiderate group laugh at the lugubrious singing of the eldest, one of his brothers retorts physically and is stabbed. The remaining brother vows to avenge this whilst the handicapped sister finds herself stuck in a darkened alley, her wheelchair broken.Orphans begins with a solemn scene, the four siblings gathered around their mother's coffin. Some gentle humour is created through the siblings' confusion at their elder's request that they place some hair in the coffin. This introduces us to the film's primary structure: scenes of genuine heartfelt drama lined with a subtle comedy to balance the mood. As things progress, we begin to see in increase in this comic factor, the film's clever blending of its contrasting elements creating a wonderful dichotomy. The true beauty of the film, however, is in its juxtaposition of its constituent elements. Many are the scenes which Mullan allows to play out, drawing us in with a barrage of riotous laughter, before effortlessly turning this on its head with a disarming simplicity and forcing us to comprehend the dramatic implications of the events unfolding before us. In a simple moment, we go from laughing at something to considering its grim seriousness. It is a stunning effect, one often attempted but rarely realised so fantastically as here. Mullan ends his scenes by inviting us to reconsider what we have just seen; we find ourselves looking at events with a melancholy when just moments ago they had us reduced to breathless laughter. He allows us to indulge ourselves in the fantastic comedy his writing engenders before showing us that these scenarios are in fact tremendously dark and dramatic. We may chuckle at Michael's determination to pass off his stab wound as an industrial accident, but we quickly reevaluate the true humour of this when we realise that he is slowly dying, his lightening pallor eventually quite frightening. This is just one example of the many such twists Mullan throws at us, showing himself to be as dramatically dark as he is ingeniously funny.A truly fantastic combination of drama and comedy, done in a subversive way which forces us to reevaluate what we thought of a scene just seconds before, Orphans is a fantastic exploration of the closeness of drama and comedy. Splendidly supported by fantastic, hilarious, and realistically authentic Glaswegian performances, this film has certainly proclaimed Peter Mullan as a masterful director.

andymcneill75 What a movie Orphans really is, an under-stated classic movie set in the mean streets of Glasgow. Where Trainspotting deals with dark subject matter as drug use and violence, Orphans is a light hearted, dark, touching and funny film which Glasgow people can relate to better than anybody else - that's not to say anybody else won't enjoy it, great movies come from all over the globe (examples - Chopper (Australia), City of God (Brazil),Run Lola Run(Germany) ) so it doesn't matter where movies come from you just tune in,watch and admire great film-making! Peter Mullan writes and directs Orphans the way he did because he's seen it all and there's nothing better than bringing life experiences to the screen with so much pride and to me it was a real pleasure to see Glasgow shown in it's true colours. Every one of the actors gives there all to there parts and there is some wild scenarios but all very believable and very fresh. Mullan went on to win the Palme'Dor for the Magdalene Sisters after this and we need more directors like him to give us challenging films. Orphans is great fun and although very touching in parts, it is very funny and a good laugh. Bravo Mr. Mullan!! P.s - If you get the DVD check out the amazing short film included, It's called The Close, a dark little horror short and it's filmed in Black and white and cost 500 pounds to make ( so Peter told me when i met him!) - money very well spent!

imxo Wow, what a night this has been. It started off with Glasgow's very interesting "Orphans", and finished with Berlin's equally interesting "Nighshades"; the first was a black comedy, the second merely black. My advice to the neighbors of these Glaswegians and Berliners would be: keep your doors locked. Both of these films deal with the eternal verities of life - love, loyalty, friendship, duty, betrayal, etc. - as encountered amid the emotional squalor in two of northern Europe's major cities, but there are enough sociopathic and psychopathic characters in these two films to populate several good sized asylums for the criminally insane. These people need to get more sun."Orphans", at least, was a bittersweet black comedy, though more bitter than sweet. Life might be hard in inner-city Glasgow, but some of their vendettas would seem more appropriate to Sicily than to Scotland. There is a harshness to the humor that is at times more than black. Death can often be funny, but can one say the same for rape and murder - even when not fully consumated? Perhaps the English can enjoy this bit of schadenfreude at the Scots' expense. I have only one real complaint about "Orphans", however, and it's a technical one. The film has the WORST SUBTITLES EVER PUT ON FILM - and they're English-to-English! If the characters are speaking English - heavily accented though it may be - why on earth would the dialog itself be changed in the sub-titles? Do the people responsible really believe that they have to substitute the word "baby" in the sub-titles every time a Glaswegian holding a child makes a reference to the "wee 'un?" And to hear the characters actually say the "F" word dozens of times, yet find the word in the sub-titles not once is very odd. Maybe these sub-titles are a part black-comedy in themselves. Ultimately, though, they are just disappointing and unprofessional. In the event, I would certainly recommend this film for it's superb acting - at least I hope it's acting - black humor, and unique take on Death in Glasgow, but when it comes to your summer holidays I'd recommend giving working-class Glasgow a very wide berth. Ditto for Berlin.

hedgehog80 I like British films so much that I don't care who the author is, I just watch them because I enjoy their atmosphere and style. But this film was a mere disappointment. If "Orphans" was meant to be grotesque, the result is poor; if it meant to move the audience to tears (but I don't suppose this was its aim) the result is poor, too. The characters portrayed here are uninteresting: I don't see why so much attention should be focused on these four brothers living their mediocre lives, and doing their best to complicate matters the very night before their mother's funeral. Authors like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach have already showed us how to make common people's lives appealing on the screen. I guess Mullan should carefully examine his masters' works before directing another film.