Joshua

 (2007)

by Tuna

Joshua is a psychological horror film about a disturbed child, in the manner of The Bad Seed, The Omen, and Rosemary's Baby. It is clear from the opening scene that nine-year-old Joshua is a creepy kid. He is practicing a spooky Bartok piece for a school recital. His grooming is impeccable, his diction precise, and he wears a tie around the house. He is precocious, excels in school, and is about to be promoted two grades.

He is also sick to death of his new baby sister. This doesn't bode well for the family.

When his fundamentalist grandmother and the rest of the family sing the baby to sleep, he has had enough, and vomits. From then on, he systematically gives his mother post-partum depression and eventually gets her committed. Then he kills his grandmother and gets his dad jailed. As the film ends, he is starting to work on his uncle.

The film is dark from start to finish, with an innocent baby, who is sort of a non-entity/victim, surrounded by unpleasant characters: the creepy Joshua, the terminally depressed mother, and the screwed up religious mother-in-law. The entire scenario is made still darker by the fact that the adults don't really see what's coming and never have a chance against the insidiously clever kid.

I won't be watching Joshua again. For my money, it was just a hugely depressing and unrewarding film.

 

 

by Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

I don't have a lot to add to Tuna's comments, just a couple of minor observations:

(1) I took no pleasure from the film at all. Most films, even poor ones, leave us with some rewarding moments: a memorable scare, a good laugh or song, a story that keeps us glued to the set, a good feeling, a bit of education ... something. I really didn't find any such moments in this film. The storyline and character development are predicable, and there is nothing especially memorable to take away from it. If you were recalling this with friends five years from now, it would be hard to pin down in terms of: "You know, the one with the ..."

(2) Let it be said that it is quite a competent film. If you could take it back to 1969 in a time machine and claim it as your own, you'd probably win some awards. But this is not 1969, and I didn't feel like the film had anything new to offer 2007.

DVD INFO

* widescreen anamorphic, 16x9

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

62 Rotten Tomatoes  (% positive)
69 Metacritic.com (of 100)

THE PEOPLE

   
6.1 IMDB summary (of 10)
C+ Yahoo Movies

THE BOX OFFICE

Box Office Mojo. Hollywood Reporter predicted, "It will draw superbly through word-of-mouth. In this case, the superbness bar was quite low, at $500k.

 

NUDITY REPORT

  • Vera Farmiga, as the mother, shows her left breast attaching a breast pump, then her buns in transparent panties.

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

C

A completely competent movie in every way - and we both hated it.