Review of Joshua (2006) by Arturo M — 13 Jun 2011

I'm betting that most who see this film would probably walk away thinking, George Ratliff (director), you are one crazy, messed up individual. However, that shouldn't gloss over the fact that somewhere underneath the slow, overly structured, headache inducing plot is perhaps something incredibly smart... or not.

To save the film for those who may not be inclined to supernatural bent horror films, this film steers clear of those elements. Rather advertised as a sort of hitchcock flavor, Joshua presents an attempt to get under your skin psychologically by playing with a "what if" idea within the context of a family. And within the utter strangeness of the character of Joshua (and this film in general), what we find is an example of extreme psychological disorder gone even more wrong. Joshua is a super intelligent and yet socially inept child who lives under a sort of unstable mother and a father who is doing his best to hold things together. And at the current time the attention of all three is being commanded by a newborn younger sibling who moves from the perfect child to suddenly crying uncontrollably. With this child at the center and this strange bout of crying, the movie moves through some mysterious interlocking events that find all of their emotional beings tested beyond that which they can deal with. And the mystery looks to ask the question who, if anyone, is behind all of these events, or are they simply a coincidence.

The movie is slow as nails, which adds to the sort of "what the heck am I watching" sense that comes with any given scene. And everything from the soundtrack to the blunt dialogue plays in to a similar feeling. The whole movie is in fact almost hypnotic. You want to quit watching but you can't. And that could be due to it being smarter than most might give it credit for... or it could be that it is just that crazy.