REVIEW
Joshua – Wonderfully Terrifying

On Tuesday night, June 26, 2007, the LA Film Festival’s Centerpiece Premiere Joshua swept into the packed National Theatre in Westwood Village with a resonating and terrifying hush. This slow-moving but intensely frightening Fox Searchlight picture will enjoy a limited release in the US in early July and, given its impressive cast, evocative cinematography, and engrossing story line, should garner a heap of success in the long run. 

Directed by George Ratliff and starring Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Celia Weston, Dallas Roberts, Michael McKean and Jacob Kogan, Joshua is a psychological thriller filled with horrors so feasible the film feels a mere step away from reality. It is this unnerving and uncertain connection to real life that Writer/Director George Ratliff and co-writer David Gilbert flawlessly spin throughout dialogue, character and scene. Taking on the nature vs. nurture debate with gusto, Ratliff explores the idea of ending up with a child you can’t seem to handle and don’t know how to love.

Joshua begins with a steep plunge into the easy, carefree and seemingly perfect life of the Cairn family. Living in a posh apartment in Manhattan, a jubilant Abby Cairn (Vera Farmiga) has just given birth to her second child – a daughter named Lily. Her happy husband Brad (Sam Rockwell) is playing the stock market for a private brokerage firm and bringing home plenty of bacon. It would seem that life for Abby and Brad is perfect . . . well, almost.

A piano prodigy who doesn’t like soccer (or basketball for that matter), Brad and Abby’s son Joshua is the black cloud on their otherwise clear horizon. His formal reserve, unnerving stare and personal oddities alienate him from his freewheeling, happy-go-lucky parents. However, as the polished and perfect veneer of the Cairn’s idyllic life slowly dissipates, it seems that the unnatural Joshua is holding all the cards.

With Abby spinning easily out of control, Brad’s descent takes a bit more time. He attempts to confide his fears and suspicions to Abby’s brother, Ned (Dallas Roberts) but his pleas fall on deaf ears. Amidst all the chaos, Joshua remains effortlessly calm, his stoic exterior begging the question – Will he . . . Is he . . . Does he know what he’s doing?

As the virile and strong family man Brad Cairn, Sam Rockwell is utterly fantastic. His attention to the little details of daily life - tuning into his ipod on the way home from work, tossing the keys aside as he walks in the front door, giving his all in racket ball after a strenuous day at work - beautifully contribute to the fresh, genuine and real quality of Joshua. And while it is difficult to turn from Vera Farmiga’s haunted eyes and unsettling quasi-insanity, Rockwell holds audience allegiance from start to finish.

Jacob Kogan’s Joshua provides a deeply disturbing, deeply wonderful foil to Rockwell’s lively Brad.  Ratliff beautifully highlights the tug-o-war between Brad and Joshua, between terror and laughter, with humorous bits of dialogue fleshed out by Rockwell and Kogan’s committed and honest performances. These moments of levity provide necessary respite and blessed reminders to breathe amidst the cloyingly claustrophobic chaos. 

Nico Muhly’s original music perfectly heightens already taut emotions and drops subtle (and not so subtle hints) of upcoming drama. Even when there is nothing particularly terrifying within a scene, the music speaks eloquently and terrifyingly of what’s to come. This, coupled with a flawlessly designed set teeming with glossy lights and vigorous, forceful colors, creates a morbid sense of impending doom that unnerves while it fascinates.

Deserving praise for his steady pacing throughout the film, Ratliff further merits accolades for his ending. Rather than coming to a placating conclusion that cleanly ties up each story, Ratliff leaves you hanging, taking the movie to the only place it could go and not ring false. We are thus left with an incredible, mind-binding thriller that speaks of real, deep-seated fears that are easy to run from but not easy to escape.