Andor is a tough kid. Life in 1950s Soviet Budapest demands it – the life of an “orphan” all the more so. “The adults and the children left Egypt together,” a man tells Andor at a Passover Seder, “but only the children entered into the promised land.” So many of the film’s characters are orphans in one way or another, struggling to rebuild their lives amid postwar loss and lawlessness. Though Andor's mother looks after him, he reels from the absence of his father, who never returned from the concentration camps. When Andor comes face-to-face with a man claiming to be his real father, the encounter sends his already chaotic adolescence into total freefall.
Co-writer/director László Nemes (the Academy Award-winning director of Son of Saul) brings midcentury Hungary to life; the film is photographed with incredible texture by cinematographer Mátyás Erdély, creating astonishing, sepia-tinged and debris-caked images. Botjorján Barabas anchors the film as Andor, with a miraculous performance full of youthful sensitivity and anger, painting the portrait of a child at the end of his innocence. Hungary’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards. —David Cohn
“As with [his other films] “Son of Saul” and “Sunset,” this is a sophisticated endeavor and, in craft terms, a level above the norm.” IndieWire
“Impeccable in its construction, moving through its emotional tones, Orphan is yet another profound glimpse into the past that offers insight into making sense of the increasingly tumultuous present.” MovieJawn
“Even when we seem to know exactly where Orphan is headed, Barabas’s energised alertness and ability to register Andor’s pain without overstatement keep us guessing.” Screen International