Joshua (2007 film)
Encyclopedia
Joshua is a 2007
American psychological horror
/thriller film about an affluent young Manhattan
family and how they are torn apart by the increasingly sadistic behavior of their disturbed son, Joshua. The film was directed by George Ratliff and stars Sam Rockwell
, Vera Farmiga
and Jacob Kogan
. It was released on July 6, 2007 in the United States
.
to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. He is nearly always clad in conservative business attire and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical
pieces. Joshua gravitates toward his gay
esthete uncle Ned (Dallas Roberts
) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kin, particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital.
As the days pass, bizarre events transpire as the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange and disorienting. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior. Joshua causes a fight between his mother who is Jewish but nonreligious and paternal grandmother who is an Evangelical Christian and who constantly proselytizes Joshua, when he tells his parents he wants to become a Christian
. Abby gets very angry and swears at the grandmother, telling her to leave her house immediately. He convinces his mother to join him in a game of hide and seek, and when she has her eyes closed counting, he takes his baby sister from her crib to hide with him, causing his mother to panic and pass out while searching for them in the empty penthouse above them, before he puts the baby back into the crib to make it look as though his mother was hallucinating the entire incident.
Later, after discussing Abby's psychological problems with his brother-in-law Ned, Brad takes two weeks off from his job to look after Abby and his children. When he arrives home, Joshua has gone to the Brooklyn Museum with his grandmother and sister. Joshua frightens his grandmother by describing to her in detail about Seth
, the Egypt
ian God of Chaos, and his violent acts. While they are at the museum, Brad watches a video tape of Joshua scaring his baby sister with a light, making her cry. He arrives at the museum, just in time to see Joshua attempt to push his sister in her carriage down a large flight of stairs, but he stops when he is caught by his grandmother, whom he proceeds to push down the large staircase, killing her and disguising it as an accident. However, Brad is convinced Joshua pushed her and confides in Ned at the funeral.
That night, Brad installs a lock on his bedroom door and tells Joshua that Lilly will be sleeping with him, fearing Joshua will attempt to do something to his sister. That night, Joshua builds a house of blocks in the living room and provokes his father. Brad tells him he won't be able to hurt anyone else, as he now realizes he is causing trouble. Later that week, on Ned's recommendation, Brad brings Betsy, a psychologist
, into the home to meet Joshua. Betsy comes to the conclusion that Joshua is being abused
. Later Brad tells him he is being sent away to a boarding school
, causing Joshua to run away. When Brad arrives home, he finds Joshua hiding in a cupboard, crying hysterically with a large bruise on his back. The next morning, he and Joshua go for a walk with his sister, but Joshua has stolen her pacifier, causing her to cry. When Brad confronts him, he begins to mock him, causing Brad to strike him. After Brad realizes what he did, he tries to say he is sorry, but Joshua further taunts him which drives Brad to beating his son in public, strengthening Joshua's case of abuse, and sending Brad to jail for three days, leaving Ned to take care of Joshua and his sister.
In the last scene of the film, Joshua is playing a piano while his uncle Ned is talking to a person in a phone about having a nanny
to take care of Lily. Afterwards, Ned sits with Joshua and compose a song together with Joshua singing an original song. Lyrics of the song is basically how Joshua's parents both will never be loved by anyone due to all the events. It is then revealed in the song that he only wanted to be with Ned and got rid of everyone else. After the song ends, Joshua stares at Ned while Ned realizes what has happened.
. It also received some positive reviews, Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter
said that the film was "a brilliant house-of-horror tale with Hitchcockean flare," Owen Gleiberman
of Entertainment Weekly
said that the film is "something vitally new... that has a cool and savvy fun with your fears," he also notes that it is "a superbly crafted psychological thriller. The film currently garners an average rating of 6.9 out of 10 with 31 correspondents in Rotten Tomatoes
, a score of 69 based on 25 critic reviews in Metacritic
.
. Matthews wrote the song as the production company of which he is a partner, 'ATO Pictures', was the production company behind the film.
A music video of the song featuring Dave Matthews was made and included in the DVD release of the film.
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12
(Funeral March movement) was used widely in the film, and was learned and played by 12-year old Jacob Kogan
. The soundtrack for the movie has been written by Nico Muhly and can be downloaded via iTunes
.
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
American psychological horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
/thriller film about an affluent young Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
family and how they are torn apart by the increasingly sadistic behavior of their disturbed son, Joshua. The film was directed by George Ratliff and stars Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
, Vera Farmiga
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress and director. Farmiga made her film debut in the 1998 drama thriller Return to Paradise. This was followed by supporting roles in the 2000 romantic film Autumn in New York and the 2001 television series UC: Undercover...
and Jacob Kogan
Jacob Kogan
Jacob Kogan is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title role in the 2007 psychological thriller Joshua and Spock as a child in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek....
. It was released on July 6, 2007 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Plot
The movie centers around the lives of Brad and Abby Cairn (Rockwell and Farmiga), two affluent Manhattanites with two children. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Kogan) is a child prodigyChild prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. He is nearly always clad in conservative business attire and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
pieces. Joshua gravitates toward his gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
esthete uncle Ned (Dallas Roberts
Dallas Roberts
Dallas Mark Roberts is an American stage and screen actor.Roberts was born in Houston, Texas. He is a graduate of Juilliard School. He is primarily based in New York City, where he regularly appears in theatrical productions...
) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kin, particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital.
As the days pass, bizarre events transpire as the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange and disorienting. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior. Joshua causes a fight between his mother who is Jewish but nonreligious and paternal grandmother who is an Evangelical Christian and who constantly proselytizes Joshua, when he tells his parents he wants to become a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
. Abby gets very angry and swears at the grandmother, telling her to leave her house immediately. He convinces his mother to join him in a game of hide and seek, and when she has her eyes closed counting, he takes his baby sister from her crib to hide with him, causing his mother to panic and pass out while searching for them in the empty penthouse above them, before he puts the baby back into the crib to make it look as though his mother was hallucinating the entire incident.
Later, after discussing Abby's psychological problems with his brother-in-law Ned, Brad takes two weeks off from his job to look after Abby and his children. When he arrives home, Joshua has gone to the Brooklyn Museum with his grandmother and sister. Joshua frightens his grandmother by describing to her in detail about Seth
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...
, the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian God of Chaos, and his violent acts. While they are at the museum, Brad watches a video tape of Joshua scaring his baby sister with a light, making her cry. He arrives at the museum, just in time to see Joshua attempt to push his sister in her carriage down a large flight of stairs, but he stops when he is caught by his grandmother, whom he proceeds to push down the large staircase, killing her and disguising it as an accident. However, Brad is convinced Joshua pushed her and confides in Ned at the funeral.
That night, Brad installs a lock on his bedroom door and tells Joshua that Lilly will be sleeping with him, fearing Joshua will attempt to do something to his sister. That night, Joshua builds a house of blocks in the living room and provokes his father. Brad tells him he won't be able to hurt anyone else, as he now realizes he is causing trouble. Later that week, on Ned's recommendation, Brad brings Betsy, a psychologist
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, into the home to meet Joshua. Betsy comes to the conclusion that Joshua is being abused
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
. Later Brad tells him he is being sent away to a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, causing Joshua to run away. When Brad arrives home, he finds Joshua hiding in a cupboard, crying hysterically with a large bruise on his back. The next morning, he and Joshua go for a walk with his sister, but Joshua has stolen her pacifier, causing her to cry. When Brad confronts him, he begins to mock him, causing Brad to strike him. After Brad realizes what he did, he tries to say he is sorry, but Joshua further taunts him which drives Brad to beating his son in public, strengthening Joshua's case of abuse, and sending Brad to jail for three days, leaving Ned to take care of Joshua and his sister.
In the last scene of the film, Joshua is playing a piano while his uncle Ned is talking to a person in a phone about having a nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
to take care of Lily. Afterwards, Ned sits with Joshua and compose a song together with Joshua singing an original song. Lyrics of the song is basically how Joshua's parents both will never be loved by anyone due to all the events. It is then revealed in the song that he only wanted to be with Ned and got rid of everyone else. After the song ends, Joshua stares at Ned while Ned realizes what has happened.
Reception
The film was a special selection at the 2007 Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. It also received some positive reviews, Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
said that the film was "a brilliant house-of-horror tale with Hitchcockean flare," Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said that the film is "something vitally new... that has a cool and savvy fun with your fears," he also notes that it is "a superbly crafted psychological thriller. The film currently garners an average rating of 6.9 out of 10 with 31 correspondents in Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, a score of 69 based on 25 critic reviews in Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Music
The song featured at the end of the film and during the end credits, "The Fly", was written especially for the movie by singer Dave MatthewsDave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
. Matthews wrote the song as the production company of which he is a partner, 'ATO Pictures', was the production company behind the film.
A music video of the song featuring Dave Matthews was made and included in the DVD release of the film.
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12
Piano Sonata No. 12 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-flat major, Op. 26 in 1800–1801, around the same time as he completed his First Symphony...
(Funeral March movement) was used widely in the film, and was learned and played by 12-year old Jacob Kogan
Jacob Kogan
Jacob Kogan is an American actor. He is best known for playing the title role in the 2007 psychological thriller Joshua and Spock as a child in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek....
. The soundtrack for the movie has been written by Nico Muhly and can be downloaded via iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.