Orphans

Once in a blue moon, a movie comes along that is funny, warm, wise, and emotionally devastating. Orphans is just such a film. Based on the award-winning Broadway play by Lyle Kessler, the story revolves around two brothers: Treat (Matthew Modine) and Phillip (Kevin Anderson), who also happen to be orphans. Treat is the tough, older brother who steals to buy food, and rules his younger brother with an iron fist. Phillip, on the other hand, has been convinced that he must stay in the house at all times (the outside air will supposedly kill him), and, though he's dutifully meek and mild, his pent-up (literally) energy causes him to bound from couch to chair to floor in an amazingly humorous and touching way. When Treat kidnaps a traveling mobster named Harold (Albert Finney), the struggle for the position of "father figure" to Phillip begins. Unlike most films, Orphans leaves you with a treasure trove of moments: Harold telling Phillip, "What you need is a little encouragement"; and the cringing, bewildered Phillip tentatively crawling up under Harold's arm. Or the hilarious play within a play that is enacted when the hairline tempered Treat tries to explain what happened when a man on the bus wouldn't close his long legs so the other passengers could sit comfortably. Or, the beautiful moment when Phillip throws off Treat's domination by showing him this new thing that Harold gave to him: a map; so the boy will not get lost in the outside world. Overlooked by the Academy, Orphans is a tour-de-force of superior acting, writing, and directing. We highly recommend that you give these waifs a home on your library shelves.