JOSHUA
By TODD McCARTHY
Variety, 1/24/07
 "Joshua"
is a creepy-little-kid suspenser decked out with sufficient class
to lend it a certain distinction. Narrowly conceived and filled
with narrative tropes familiar from many other movies, fiction feature
debut by George Ratliff, who made his name with the Halloween docu
"Hell House," boasts enough in the way of sharp acting,
as well as visual and musical smarts, to give the psychological
twists and turns a respectable aesthetic context. Fox Searchlight
Sundance pickup lacks the shocks, blood and guts to put it over
with big-opening-weekend horror geeks, but a smart campaign should
nevertheless generate solid returns in all markets.
"Do you ever feel weird about me, your weird son?" 9-year-old
Joshua Cairn (Jacob Kogan) inquires of his father Brad (Sam Rockwell),
a successful Wall Street trader. "You don't have to love me."
Granted, Joshua might have reason to feel a bit put out at the moment,
as his mother Abby (Vera Farmiga) has just brought a newborn sister
to the family's beautiful apartment overlooking Central Park.
But Joshua is, in fact, more than a bit weird. Impeccably polite
and primly attired, the boy is so intellectually advanced his teacher
advises moving him ahead a couple of years in school, and he's also
a piano prodigy, with a natural leaning toward pieces of modern
dissonance. He also receives sympathetic attention from his uncle
Ned (Dallas Roberts), a gay art and culture maven for whom Joshua
feels a greater affinity than he does for his more immediate family.
With the passage of time marked by notations of the baby's age in
days, the mood at home becomes more unsettled. The baby cries incessantly,
pushing the already edgy Abby to the brink of despair; at this point,
her refusal to hire babysitters seems absurd. Joshua tosses out
all his childhood toys, disembowels his favorite stuffed animal,
develops a sudden interest in mummification, then pretends to grieve
when the family dog mysteriously dies, as do the hamsters in his
classroom.
Ratliff and co-scripter David Gilbert concoct further incidents
-- Granny suffers an unlikely accident, Abby is packed off to a
nursing home -- which collectively raise the central question of
whether they are coincidental events or actually the product of
a young mind more prodigiously evil than anyone could have imagined.
Pic holds audience attention reasonably well up to the climactic
revelation thanks especially to the shrewd casting of, and performances
from, Rockwell and screen debutant Kogan. Rockwell energizes the
screen with his alertness; his Brad always seems to be thinking
ahead as to what will please or interest his son and wife, and as
the latter goes further off the deep end, ever more is required
of him.
By contrast, Kogan's Joshua is quietly poised, unflappable and enigmatic,
to no one moreso than his parents, who can only wonder how they
produced such a precocious egghead. With his abundant dark hair,
steady gaze and defiant serenity, Kogan resembles the child actor
Buddy Swan, who played the young Charles Foster Kane in "Citizen
Kane," and commands centerstage in every scene he's in. He
also clearly played the sometimes difficult piano pieces required.
Farmiga perhaps starts her portrait of hysteria at too high a register;
her character is a pill from the outset, making one want her to
go away whenever she's around. With limited screen time, Roberts
deftly sketches in an interesting character as Joshua's aesthetically
minded uncle.
Tech package is unusually good for this sort of picture, with three
key collaborators having made notable contributions: production
designer Rochelle Berliner, who created a warm, lived-in look for
the apartment; cinematographer Benoit Debie ("Irreversible"),
whose framing and sensitive color schemes are impeccable, and composer
Nico Muhly, whose unusual, insinuating work significantly augments
the drama and psychological shadings.
A Fox Searchlight release of an ATO Pictures
presentation. Produced by Johnathan [cq] Dorfman. Executive producers,
Temple Fennell, Dan O'Meara. Co-producer, George Paaswell. Directed
by George Ratliff. Screenplay, David Gilbert, Ratliff.
Brad Cairn - Sam Rockwell
Abby Cairn - Vera Farmiga
Hazel Cairn - Celia Weston
Ned Davidoff - Dallas Roberts
Chester Jenkins - Michael McKean
Joshua Cairn - Jacob Kogan
Stewart Slocum - Alex Draper
Betsy Polsheck - Nancy Giles
Ms. Danforth - Linda Larkin
Pediatrician - Stephanie Roth Haberle
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