This is the third film from Hungarian director László Nemes, which could be seen as the final chapter in his unofficial trilogy, covering events around both WW1 and WW2.

Set in Budapest post WW2, when Klára (Andrea Waskovics) is finally reunited with her son Andor (Bojtorján Barabas), now ten years older, having been treated like an orphan during this time.

He is still waiting for the return of his father, who he still believes to be alive, a belief not necessarily shared by his mother, who has undertaken certain actions to keep her relatively safe, that involved local butcher Berend (Grégory Gadebois).

With current the political landscape volatile to say the least, with a Communist regime in power, Andor finds himself struggling on all fronts, trying to dig up the truth about his father.

Nemes is now experienced creating war-torn landscapes, with this his third extremely believable. Less so, sadly, is its story, which is bum-achingly sluggish. Much like Andor’s life, it lacks direction, with a lot of aimless wandering, made worse by its unnecessarily long run time of two hours and ten minutes.

There is a compelling story trapped inside, that would have greatly benefitted from a run time closer to 90 minutes, but with all the extra footage of a very angry young man walking the streets of the city, it will struggle to hold an audience’s attention.

Young Barabas certain earns his paycheck, consistently moody throughout, for a role that couldn’t have been much fun to play. But the relentless frown and attitude that accompanies it, is just too much hard work to keep engaged for the (long) duration, as wells as makes his character surprisingly two dimensional.

It also doesn’t help that its title is a little misleading, as Andor is under the care of his mother for the entirety of the film, and although it still falls under the technical definition of an orphan (a maternal/paternal orphan), it is more commonly used to describe a child under 18 who has lost both parents, and Andor’s mother most definitely features throughout.

Lacking a tight script, Orphan drags its heels on the streets of Budapest, making it a real challenge to care what happens to Andor, wishing instead for him to just grow up quick and get on with the rest of his life, so we can do the same.