PAINLESS (2012)

Saw this film on a recommend via one of my favorite horror writers, and while understanding comparisons to films like The Orphanage I felt this one lacked emotional depth.  Going back and forth between two time periods in Catalonia, first we see the effects of a fearful village, before and during the Spanish Civil War, on a small group of young children deemed to be impervious to pain; considered a danger to themselves and others, the children are sent to an old asylum for rehabilitation, though in truth no one knows how to "cure" them.  Meanwhile, in present day, a physician dying of bone cancer needs a marrow transplant, and when he learns his parents aren't really his parents, sets off on a journey to find his biological mother and father.  You can see the ending of Painless long before it comes, and even with the kids' horror story there is just a tonal coldness - a lack of emotional connection - here to make me want to recommend it. (not rated)  C-