Genres

Visitors Review

pedrosmgfan 2012-05-05 11:55:25

Another excellent film by an excellent genius!

This film is scary,beautiful,with good actors and a beautifulsoundtrack. Calista Flockhart is very good, and Richard Roxburgh,GemmaJones,Elena Anaya,etc,are also great!Jaume Balagueró does it again;thisSpanish genius demonstrated his great talent in horror films in "Lossin nombre" and "Darkness"."Fragile" continues being as good as theprevious films. The film reflects a North American woman who arrives to England to workas a nurse in a children's hospital in the days in which this hospitalis going to close its doors. But there is something scary that watchsin that hospital,something that terrifies the children and it does notlet to them leave... As far as the soundtrack,composed by the always excellent RoqueBaños,it is really beautiful.Pain is one that is not continued makingmusic for films like this one.Well,in summary,see this film because youare not going it to be sorry.

udar55 2012-05-04 19:47:05

Masterfully done!

I just finished watching Jaume (THE NAMELESS, DARKNESS) Balaguero'sthird film FRAGILE starring Calista Flockheart. It is no secret that Ienjoy his work but I really think this is his best film. It is bothincredibly scary and emotionally sensitive (something I haven't seen ina horror film since, uh, forever). Balaguero has an amazingly subtlestyle but he builds the suspense perfectly for the first half. Thesecond half is nearly all chills and they really gave me goosebumps(something I haven't experienced in, uh, a while). He also throws in anexcellent twist that would make M. Night envious. And he isn't afraidto take risks as a filmmaker (you'll understand what I mean by theend). Easily one of the best horror films I have seen this year

board-5 2012-05-02 08:14:34

Best Spanish film in years,but not as good as The Machinist.

How a serious illness can, and will change your life ?This film givinga deeper answer as you may think.OK there are some not too gooddialogs,and well known situations but finally this film is one of thebest films I had seen in years.The director had some rubbish filmsbefore this,but now I still think this film will stand the time.Thestory enough original to give a chance for the director to adopt forthe screen in normal style,what is this time not pushing down the otherparts of the film.Calista Folkhart is good but not the best in the mainrole,Richard Roxburg plays he's role with passion.My rental money notwaisted,don't wait to cable.

Paul Andrews 2012-05-02 05:47:14

Decent ghost story.

Fragile is set on the Isle of Wight where an old hospital called MercyFalls is due to be shut down, all but a handful of patients havealready been moved to another hospital but after a major train crashbeds become scarce so a ward of child remain there. New night nurse AmyNicholls (Calista Flockhart) takes charge & forms a bond with a youngterminal patient named Maggie (Yasmin Murphy) who claims that she cansee another girl named Charlotte, the other nurses & staff putCharlotte down to Maggie's imaginary friend but Amy is not so sure.Cahrlotte is considered an urban legend at Mercy Falls as variouschildren have seen her down the years but as the closing down processcontinues unexplained injuries & even death's make Amy question what isgoing on, Amy thinks it could have something to do with the desertedclosed down second floor that has a dark past & starts toinvestigate...Shot under the title Frágiles this Spanish & British co-production wasco-written & directed by Jaume Balagueró, despite some of thesurprisingly positive comments & reviews Fragile is nothing more than aslightly better than average ghost story about a vengeful spirit &little else. Fragile goes for atmosphere & a long sustained build-uprather than flashy effects & novelty kills, some may like it'sleisurely pace & get into the story & it's character's & while Ithought it was reasonably watchable & modestly effective nothingimpressed me that much. The story is your typical vengeful spirit one,the whole angle about people seeing ghost's if themselves are about todie is contradicted at the end & the emotional core of the Fragilewhich is undoubtedly the relationship between night nurse Amy &terminally ill Maggie didn't move me that much, or at least as much asit maybe should have done. At just under an hour & forty minutes itseemed longer to me, again there's a lot of build-up which iscompetently done & acted but I must admit I just started to loseinterest. The explanations behind the haunting & ghost's in general arevague & offer nothing new over what has been suggested before, while Ican't say I hated Fragile as it's well made & tells a reasonable storyat it's own pace I never really got into it & I was never enthralled orgripped or that interested in anything that going on. An OKsupernatural ghost story but far from special.Fragile is certainly stylishly made with sterile colours & good use ofdimly lit hospital corridors, I am sure the intention was to build thesuspense & tension during the first half & then go for all out thrills& chills during the second half but again I just never got that into itor the story. There's no real gore, someone's leg is impaled on a pipe& a deformed ghost is show's up but Fragile is more about atmosphere &low keys thrills than all out horror & cheap scares although the lasttwenty minutes does feel a little like that with a hospital crumblingaround various people & a ghost showing up. Apparently edited in the USto get a lower rating the uncut version has a few swear words & a bitof gore but nothing that significantly alters the film.Filmed mainly in Spain with a Spanish crew it's surprising it was shotin English, it's well made for sure but I doubt I will remember muchabout it in a week or two. The acting is good from a solid cast, one ofvery few feature film appearances from TV star Flockhart while RichardRoxburgh turns up in a supporting role.Fragile is a film that requires patience & is alright if your lookingfor a slow moving ghost story but don't expect some sort of masterpieceas it's fairly predictable & I didn't think there was anything new hereat all. Not a bad film at all but just not a great one either.

rust37 2012-04-29 10:19:50

Good overall, although too simplistic for Balaguero's class

Unlike previous Jaume Balaguero movies (Nameless, Darkness) theFragiles' script is surprisingly simple making it too easy to retell itin a few sentences. Yes, there are two layers of this ghost story atleast, but almost nothing to think over after watching. Not to mentiona higher number of loose ends (death of the replaced nurse, motives ofMandy).Two explanations come shortly to my mind - either JB is challenginghimself to practice new ways of horror-making, or someone (Fernandez?)misled him about the way how to get to Hollywood.It was yet another surprise to see the first ever happy end from JB, aswell as new I would say Shyamalan inspired motives and methods aboutkids. Yes, I agree that some influence from the Asian horror-makerscould be spotted - Eye, Grudge.. There is nothing bad in lookingaround, if it doesn't replace further on JB's native high-proberesearch into irrational evil seen in the two first movies.Otherwise the Fragiles is brilliant. Camera, FX, directing, acting,sound, minimalistic style - everything is in it's place for Balaguero'sclass movies.

Prolox 2012-04-28 20:43:21

Not a very good thriller, of interest to CALISTA FLOCKHART fans mainly.

CALISTA FLOCKHART stars as a nurse who is assigned to a ward for sickchildren. While there, she learns from the children about a ghostly"Mechanical Girl" that roams the halls. Naturally she laughs it off atfirst, that is until, bizarre supernatural happenings occur & membersof the hospital (that is set to close down in a few days) are beingoffed one by one, with the help of a doctor, she attempts to solve themystery of who the girl is & why she is doing what she is doing & try &find a way to stop her before she too meets her maker. FRAGILE is aSpanish made thriller released just in time for Halloween 2010, underthe FANGORIA FRIGHTFEST label, oddly though the film is only PG-13, & Ido say oddly because the film we have received (at least here inCanada) has been cut from the original NC-17 rating (From myunderstanding that was it's rating) what was cut out, I cannot say, butwhat I can say is that I would have felt better had the filmmakers leftthe film fully intact, because hopefully it's a much better versionthan what we did get. FRAGILE is a mediocre ghost tale, filled withmediocre direction, mediocre acting by many of the main players, dullcharacters & characterizations & thrills & chills that only seem toarrive when the film is just about over. Maybe I was seeing the film ona bad day or something, but whatever the reason, I couldn't really getinto the films story. It was to dry & not really eerie enough. The filmalso pulls the same twists & turns normally seen in films like these &because of it, I found myself neither intrigued or on the edge of myseat, when the final explanations surfaced towards the end of the film.The villaness (in this case the ghost) looked pretty creepy, but wasbadly mishandled & despite CALISTA FLOCKHART'S presence, the filmfailed to find a distributor over here, until recently, when FANGORIAfigured they'd make a few extra bucks from horror & non horror fansalike, because of her being in the movie. Not a total loss & I haveseen far worse (not to mention far more boring material) but still Ican't really recommend the film either. Rent only if you're a CalistaFlockhart fan. Filmed in 2005.** stars

collipal-1 2012-04-25 08:33:10

Very clichéd

Frágiles is not a bad movie but I think it's very mediocre,clichéd anda little bit boring.The worst fail I found on this movie is all thequantity of clichés it has.If this movie came out 5 years ago,it wouldhave been much better and we would be talking about somethingoriginal.But,now,we have seen the themes this movie has so many timesthat the final experience is very clichéd and unoriginal.The film isextremely slow and that helps for making the movie boring.Having saidall that,I have to say that director Jaume Balagueró achieved a goodatmosphere.In summary,Frágiles is not a bad movie and it has goodatmosphere but it's very clichéd and boring.I do not know if I canrecommend it.

Hasan Odeh 2012-04-24 20:39:10

baad

supid movie do not watch it, do not waste 1 hour and 45 minutes from your life.Acting is sooo poor and same applies to direction.Same old story nothing new.

MovieGuy01 2012-04-17 16:01:26

A very scary horror film...

I found the film Fragile to be quite a scary horror film. It is about anew night nurse called Amy Nicholls, who arrives in the old Mercy FallsChildren Hospital to work as night nurse as replacement of the formernurse who worked there called Susan. It is a soon to be abandonedchildren's hospital it becomes clear that these are not normalchildren. There is something living in the hospital, which the childrencall the "mechanical girl," the patients are being transferred to SaintJames Hospital but due to a train crash, the closing of the hospitalhas been postponed. Amy is introduced to eight children with lung casesby the nurse Helen Perez, and she feels attracted to one of the girlscalled Maggie. Maggie likes to play with some letter blocks to talkwith the "mechanical girl" called Charlotte that lives upstairs, on anabandoned floor. This seemed to be quite a strange and scary film tome. Recommended

abell1373 2012-04-17 04:45:27

Excellent Ghost Story

This is another gem of a film that I discovered while channel-surfing.The plot is simple (albeit a Gothic cliché) - a beautiful nurse with asecret, a handsome doctor, an old and isolated building with aghost.......The atmosphere is eerie and spooky; the musical scoreunderstated but effective. It is, in short, everything a ghost storyshould be. This film, "The Changeling," and "The Haunting of Julia" arethe only three films that have done this correctly, in my opinion.Modern ghost stories tend to rely way too much on blood, gore, and thegratuitous sex scene (or two) for effect. "Fragile" demonstrates onceagain that these are completely unnecessary if you have a good storyand decent actors.Calista Flockhart is quite good in this role, and the supporting castis more than adequate. The atmosphere and setting seem to bring outboth desperation and isolation, which are both key to this film. Theghost is truly frightening; the first glimpse gave the the creeps andwill stay with me for a long time.I highly recommend this film.

HumanoidOfFlesh 2012-04-14 07:50:10

Creepy and sad.

Mercy Falls Children's Hospital on the Isle of Wight is about to closedown for good.With a train crash filling up the intended transferhospital,the remaining eight children and skeleton staff are forced towait for a few days before they can leave.Barely holding on to herself-control following an earlier,devastating case of allegednegligence,night shift nurse Calista Flockhart is alarmed by an unusualnumber of cases involving broken bones among the children.The kidsthemselves talk ominously of a "mechanical girl" on theabandoned,apparently haunted second floor."Fragile" is another creepyhorror winner from Jaume Balaguero of "Darkness" and "The Nameless"fame.It relies on uneasy atmosphere of dread instead of gore andshocks.Lingering shots of darkened,empty corridors and carefully timedmoments of genuine alarm totally creeped me out.Give this eerie anddepressing gem a look.

Marco Busato 2012-04-14 00:42:27

Lame, boring AND dishonest

Quickly said: the premise and unfolding of the story is predictable,even if it tries not to be. The setting, a soon-to-be-closed hospitalbuilt in a remote and difficult to be reached island, is really nothingnew. And, good as she is in this movie, one has to wonder what CalistaFlockhart is doing in a Spanish production. But the worst thing of allis that in the final act the movie unforgivably cheats on the audience:without spoiling it at all, during the plot, a rule have been set quiteclearly. But in the end, for no apparent reason other than to give tomovie a happy ending, the rule is subverted. Should the screenwriter(or the director) have been brave enough to drive the movie to itslogical conclusion, it would have been much more interesting and muchless annoying.

2012-04-08 12:55:43

Lesbianism, Pedophilia, Necrophilia and Other Fetishes: Calista Flockhart Explores Darkness!

What do you get when you mix lesbian nurses with sick little girls in achildren's hospital? A twisted drama like this! A blurb at thebeginning of this movie warns that it's not recommended for childrenunder thirteen years of age. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it forchildren of any age, nor for adults who are easily offended! In her"Intimate Portrait" on the Lifetime channel, Calista Flockhart admittedthat she is "drawn to darkness." This movie proves it! Besidescontaining seemingly non-stop violence, and foul language, it pandersto various twisted fetishes, including lesbianism, pedophilia andnecrophilia, as demonstrated when a child gives the corpse of Calista'scharacter "a kiss of love" on the mouth, in an effort to bring her backto life. Watch the movie to see if it worked; I won't spoil it for you!Calista is known for starring in roles that dabble in darkness andlesbianism. She starred as the murderess of her character's own childin "Bash: Latter-Day Plays." She locked lips with Lucy Liu, JaneKrakowsky and Courtney Thorne-Smith in the award-winning, title role ofAlly McBeal. She also said that she got "to kiss Valeria Golino" in"Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her" and that "She's hot!" In"The Last Shot," her mentally disturbed character grabbed two smalldogs, threatening to stab the one and to strangle the other! I'm noteven going into fetishes for nurses and medical equipment, or extremesadomasochism and cat-fighting! Suffice it to say, bones are broken andblood flows! I watched it on DVD in English and Spanish. It's alsoavailable in Catalan, which is appropriate, because it was filmed inBarcelona, in the Province of Catalonia, Spain. It also has Spanish andEnglish subtitles. I noticed that I couldn't remove the Spanishsubtitles when I played it in English. I recommend playing it inEnglish if you, like me, are mostly interested in watching it becauseyou're a die-hard fan of Calista Flockhart, and want to hear her voice,because she doesn't speak Spanish, and I don't know who uttered herlines for the Spanish version.(By the way, did you see the documentary which provided more evidencethat Christopher Columbus was a Catalonian named "Colom" from in oraround Barcelona, than that he was an Italian from Genoa?) If you wantto see more of Calista Flockhart than in "Quiz Show" or "The Birdcage,"then you're in luck, because she plays the protagonist, and you get tosee her throughout this movie. If, however, you want to see more of herthan you did in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," you're in for adisappointment, because the only nudity displayed in this movie is thatof the antagonist. Again, I won't spoil it for you; watch the movie tofigure out who I'm talking about! Although this movie was intended tobe a horror film, the audience laughed at it as if it were a comedywhen it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, 2005. Ithought this was odd, considering how horrifying it is, but I admitthere were times when I laughed out loud while watching it. If you'veever laughed at someone else's misfortune, and/or at someone who lookedstrange, you should be able to relate. And Calista's face was, in myhumble opinion, created for comedy. She should have been a clown, asshe told people as a child that she intended to be when she grew up.She's just too cute! This movie is historically significant to CalistaFlockhart's fans, because it's the last movie she appeared in prior toher return to TV in a series ("Brothers & Sisters") after "Ally McBeal"was canceled in 2002. If you're not a fan of hers, or if you're easilyoffended or squeamish, I wouldn't recommend watching this movie.However, if you are a fan of Calista Flockhart, or you enjoy seeingpeople, including children, severely injured, then you must see thismovie!

rickyrichardo2 2012-04-08 01:18:03

Another scary movie from Catalan genius!

Don't look, don't move and don't even breathe.............Well this movie opened yesterday in Spain and I saw it and I have tosay that I liked it. I have seen the directors two previous movies, LOSSIN NOMBRE and DARKNESS and I think he is one of the most interestingdirectors in Europe at the moment. Fragile is just like Darkness inEnglish with an international cast, mainly with actors from the UK, butin the lead we see the American actress Calista Flockhart andAustralian actor Richard Roxburgh.The movie starts very slow but after 45 minutes it comes alive and youjump out of your seat a couple of times. The acting is not the best,Calista looks mostly tired throughout the movie and there is a scenebetween her and Richard that should be very moving but ends uplaughable. (you will recognize it when you see the movie). Spanish actress Elena Anaya is hot and very talented and should havehad more scenes.The best thing with this movie is the mechanical girl, the ghost livingon the 2nd floor. She or IT is really scary and the make up artistshave done a terrific job. Every time she appears you will definitely besacred. This movie is not going to go down as one of the best horrormovies ever made, but if you like movies like The sixth sense, theomen, the eye you will definitely enjoy this one. I hope Dimensionfilms picks this one up for an US release cause with Calista in thelead I think the movie could gross at least 40-60 million at the boxoffice.I can't wait for the directors next movie. Viva España!

Scarecrow-88 2012-04-02 02:33:35

Frágiles

Supernatural spookshow from director Jaume Balagueró has CalistaFlockhart as a newly hired night nurse, Amy Nicholls, to a children'shospital in England, who discovers something sinister which lives onthe abandoned second floor. The hospital is about to close it's doorsand Amy is hired to help the staff prepare for the removal for the restof the patients, among other duties, replacing another who could nolonger cope with the "mechanical girl" the children go on and on about.Maggie(Yasmin Murphy)is an orphan patient with cystic fibrosis whoinforms Amy about Charlotte, the ghost that haunts the upper floor, andwas deeply cared for by the nurse she replaced, Susan. Susan isreturning to the hospital when her car crashes, killing her. The seriesof events, such as a little boy named Simon, suffering a doublefracture, the cause not so easily explained, and a mysterious mishapwhen an elevator goes haywire, could be related to "the mechanicalgirl", and as Amy digs into Charlotte's past, she is convinced thatMaggie and the other children will be in danger if they are not removedfrom the building, the premises, altogether. The hospital is comingapart, as fragile as Charlotte was in life, cracks in the crumblingwalls when she is enraged, and her power can kill, paranormal activityquite present even if the other members of the staff try to deny herpresence. As explained by Robert Marcus(Richard Roxburgh), the nightdoctor, Charlotte suffered from "brittle bone disease", osteogenesisimperfecta, and so this agonizing existence continues after her painfuldemise..and in her rage, she wants others to suffer as she did as well.With the simply gorgeous Elena Anaya as Amy's fellow nurse, Helen,Gemma Jones as Mrs. Folder, the hospital administrator, and ColinMcFarlane as Roy, who is assisting in the moving of objects andpersonnel. Murphy is a doll and Flockhart imbues her character with asense of tragedy and sadness, haunted by an incident from the pastwhich motivates her to do whatever she can to help see that Maggieescapes the hospital unharmed. The ending literally has the hospitalfalling apart with Amy trying to guide Maggie out of the clutches ofCharlotte as her volcanic anger ruptures the very foundation of thebuilding, its walls and floors.

Branimir Bogoevski 2012-04-01 18:28:11

help

The reviews coming out of Venice were not kind. Indeed some reviews onthis site in the message boards were not kind.....OK we are not talkingabout Oscar material but this film is scary in a non-gory,blood-on-walls, way and is entertaining. If cinema should be fun and atime to suspend belief then this film is OK. If you want challengingsubject matter or top drawer acting look elsewhere....if you want to bescared and entertained then go for it. Flockhart is fine, the kids aregood, Roxborugh is good, Anaya is good.....just don't expect too much.The sound and cinematography are very good and Jaume Balagueró holds itall together well enough....the story ticks along and builds to thefinal showdown and you begin to feel some empathy and understanding ofthe characters but we never dwell long enough on any onecharacter....and we don't really care how or why they are in thehospital all we want to know is well they ever leave? PS:Please I Wantto know the name of the soundtrack in the end(or Where i can downloadIt) it's very good and i can't find it anywhere pls help me:]

Arman 2012-03-31 20:32:03

no need to bleed

you know if you wanna to be scared you must feel it... the most scary thing is sth that is extraordinary and close greatfully to reallity that will make you scared. this fil contain this value and the most important thing in this movie is it's story and the point of the story it's really touching and teach us so much lessons about real love.

ablg30 2012-03-31 11:04:10

good surprise

great movie! I really liked kept my attention from beginning to end. I recommend! I love it I love it I love it I love it

EvaSalvi 2012-03-22 08:40:45

When I thought movies wouldn't scare me anymore... came this.

What could I say about "Fragile"? Well... it was a rainy evening in mytown (totally true, not to give effects), and instead of going to thetown party I decided to go to the cinema. I had a good idea becauseI've always admired Balagueró (Los Sin Nombre... great), and I lovehorror films too, but, like I've said, I had seen three horror moviesbefore and none of them really frightened me. So I got to the cinemaand waited for it to start. The atmosphere is very good, it seems theyworked a lot to make it, but not only the atmosphere was right like inother films, the story is convincing too, not just"killing-screaming-the end". It starts about a nurse who goes to workin a hospital in an English island. The hospital is about to be closedand the few children who are still there are supposed to be out ofthere soon. But it's not as easy as it seems, strange things happen inthat hospital, one of the girls see somebody who lived and died there,and that "somebody" hurts the kids, by breaking their bones most of thetimes. The real interest is in what is behind that story, who is thatsomebody, and why he or she behaves like that. The acting is correct,Elena Anaya, Richard Roxburgh (finally a good role for him!), CalistaFlockhart and the kids work efficiently. And most... I'd never been sofrightened for a long time. I think that good stories are that whichscare me. The same happened with "The Changeling" (somehow similar,somehow different). But worth seeing both of them. I recommend it.

matheusmarchetti 2012-03-22 08:08:46

The scariest horror of the 2000's so far...

"Fragile" has to be one of the scariest films I've ever seen. It wassuch a bad idea to watch this film right before going to bed! I had tosleep with the lights turned on. The whole concept of the film is justterrifying, the child hospital setting is just perfect to create themood and the atmosphere. The film also, as mentioned in some reviewsbefore, mixes Japanese horror with the old school European horror, mostnotably films like Suspiria, which is a real treat. One thing that leftme quite surprised is the fact that this film was made in the 2000's,and a small number of good, scary horror films have been released inthis decade so far, other examples are "The Others", "Sweeney Todd: TheDemon Barber of Fleet Street" and "The Orphanage". The only problemwith the film is that it is a bit confusing, but don't let it let youdown. Watch this film. You'll one hell of a good time and one hell of ascare.