Furhman shines

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2012)

When I saw trailers for this movie I thought "Great! Orphans have it bad enough without another film like this showing up." I was all ready to condemn this movie and its leftover plot-devices.
And leftover as the plot may be (let's face it, movies about evil orphans are kind of overdone) I was genuinely surprised. Not with the movie itself, but with young actress Isabelle Furhman. Just twelve years-old in this film, Furhman's acting towers over her supporting cast. In every aspect of the movie she is completely believable. I would have adopted her! I pitied her as her classmates made fun of her. Even though I had just seen her kill a nun I was sympathizing with the father of the story, wanting so bad for her to be innocent. And yes, even at the end I wondered if maybe they had actually cast a 30-something woman with a weird hormone disorder. I absolutely fell in love with this little actress. And I would love to see more of her.
I could take or leave the movie. But if you take the movie, don't leave without Isabelle Furhman.