Joshua (2007)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

George Ratliff

Writers:

David Gilbert (written by) and
George Ratliff (written by)

Release Date:

19 September 2007 (Philippines)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The story of a perfect boy who had a perfect plan.

Plot:

The arrival of a newborn girl causes the gradual disintegration of the Cairn family; particularly for 9-year-old Joshua (Kogan), an eccentric boy whose proper upbringing and refined tastes both take a sinister turn.

Plot Keywords:

Child Prodigy | New York City New York | Born Again Christian | Video Camera | Brother Sister Relationship

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Sam Rockwell	...	Brad Cairn
Vera Farmiga	...	Abby Cairn
Celia Weston	...	Hazel Cairn
Dallas Roberts	...	Ned Davidoff
Michael McKean	...	Chester Jenkins
Jacob Kogan	...	Joshua Cairn
Nancy Giles	...	Betsy Polsheck
Linda Larkin	...	Ms. Danforth
Alex Draper	...	Stewart Slocum
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Pediatrician
Ezra Barnes	...	Fred Solomon
Jodie Markell	...	Ruth Solomon
Rufus Collins	...	Henry Abernathy
Haviland Morris	...	Monique Abernathy
Tom Bloom	...	Joe Cairn

Also Known As:

Joshua: The Devil's Child (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some disturbing behavior by a child.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | USA:R (certificate #43401) | Australia:MA (2007) | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:13 | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

ATO Pictures

Trivia:

The note that Joshua leaves for his father reads: "Dad,/Eaten lunch already/and gone to/The Brooklyn Museum of Art/having fun with Nunu and Lily." If you arrange the first letter of each line in order, it reveals an acrostic for "Death."

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The video tape Joshua pulls from the drawer to watch is dated 2/29/1997. 1997 was not a leap year.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Joshua Cairn: [sung] I only ever really wanted to be with you.

Movie Connections:

References Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)

Soundtrack:

The Fly

Strange but not too strange . . .

"Cruel children, crying babies, All grow up as geese and gabies, Hated, as their age increases, By their nephews and their nieces." Robert Louis Stevenson

If you're thinking of starting a family, don't see Joshua. If you think your stockbroker spouse is a stable breadwinner capable of providing you a view of Central Park, don't see Joshua. If you think all your children will be lovable, don't see Joshua.

However, if you want the bejesus scared out of you by a kid so bright he could skip two grades and play Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 at recess, director George Ratliff, whose Hell House could have entitled this expert psychological thriller, has fashioned a hell of a cautionary tale about appearances and reality, unlovable kids and their clueless parents. The slow disintegration of an upper-middle class family is so carefully drawn that the first third of the film seems like a walk in the park with a few scrapes from some errant shrubbery. When, however, nine-year old Joshua Cairn (Jacob Kogan) begins missing his parents' affection, displaced to his crybaby newborn sister, strange but not too strange things happen, not easily ascribable to him.

As in most successful thrillers involving miscreant kids, even to the end is a doubt that they could be the source of the growing terror. Although comparisons to The Bad Seed and Rosemary's Baby seem fair, Kogan bears a strong resemblance to Buddy Swan, who played the young Charles Foster Kane with chilling deadpan. Kane's lifelong hang up over being separated from his family is an appropriate allusion to clarify the psychological ramifications in this film.

Although I was quite pleased with the slow exposition, because I think things unravel slowly in privileged families, the payoff ending came too quickly and without the supernatural underpinnings the buildup seemed to promise.

"Modern children were considerably less innocent than parents and the larger society supposed . . . ." David Elkind, Child Psychologist