FILM REVIEW: Family drama Little Orphans finds the past in repeat in Newfoundland

Little Orphans, the feature debut of St. John’s, Nfld., director Ruth Lawrence, opens with two children playing (seemingly without any parents around) on a model of a ship that has been broken in two, as thirtysomething Gwen (Emily Bridger) anxiously watches.

Right off the bat, Lawrence draws attention to the heart of her film’s themes: abandonment and the re-emergence of the past.