“Joshua” is another slow burning arthouse thriller that fails to ignite. The 2007 George Ratliff picture brings big names to the table. Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga are excellent. But their abilities are wasted on a chaotic script and overly predictable plot.
The titular Joshua Cairn (Jacob Kogan) is a nine-year-old child prodigy. He has the intellect of Leibniz and the pianist abilities of Rachmaninoff. Joshua is the center of attention with his parents (Rockwell and Farmiga), grandparents (Celia Weston and Tom Bloom) and his Uncle Ned (Dallas Roberts). That is, until the arrival of his new baby sister Lily.
There are plenty of popular movies that set the stage for this flop. “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Good Son,” “The Omen.” Joshua gets jealous of Lily and quickly turns from boy-genius to psycho-freak. His devilish antics work to split apart the seemingly perfect family. His evil ways come out of nowhere as does the implosion of the Cairn crew. The setting of New York City is always a plus, and can work well for horror. Here, it’s an afterthought other than to give the impression that the Cairn family has money and prestige. I wasn’t scared at all. I was bored, confused, and wishing that the 106 minutes would come to an end.
Certain elements; the inclusion of religious tension between the overly pious grandmother and Joshua’s parents tries to offer some degree of complexity. It bombs as the character is so over the top you’ll roll your eyes every time she speaks. I did like the haunting inclusion of the trademark baby monitor and the constant crying of baby Lily. The latter reminded me of “Eraserhead.” Despite me really liking the work of both Rockwell and Farmiga, all the characters were so unlikeable I frankly didn’t give a damn what happened to them.
I would recommend you don’t waste time with “Joshua.” It’s an uninspired and sloppy mess of a production.
