see that eerily cute little boy to the left there? yea, that's joshua. the. scariest. mother. fucker. under 12. and i'm not kidding about the mother fucker part either. this kid mind fucks his mother to the point of insanity. joshua is about a little boy (see picture) who's soon to be a big brother. yea!!!? no yea. from the beginning of the film, one can easily see that joshua is a gifted young boy. he doesn't appear to have much in the way of friends or a social life but he is intelligent and very gifted on the piano. upon the arrival of his younger sister, joshua is unimpressed and confused as to why he is no longer getting all the attention of his well-to-do parents. things start to get a little disturbing when joshua tells his father that "you don't have to love me, you know. it's not a rule." who the hell says that?! certainly not an 8 year old! over the next half an hour or so we learn that joshua was a fussy little brat when he was an infant and that this constant crying drove his mother to fall into a state of psychotic post-partum depression.
years pass and joshuas mom "recovers" and all seems to be well within the family. until lily (baby sister) mysteriously begins crying insistently. we are led to believe that joshua and his freakishly smart little brain had something to do with this. freaky things continue to happen that make you question what you would do if your own flesh and blood were acting this way. the main climax of the movie is when joshua and his mother (who's hanging by a single mental thread at this point) are playing a game of hide and seek in the house. lily is sleeping. joshua hides. mom seeks. baby and joshua go missing. mom goes apeshit.
after mom is subdued by some strong anti-psychotics she is committed to a happy sunny mental institution. dad, joshua and lily return home. one night dad discovers some not so kosher things about what joshua's been doing at night for the last few weeks and begins to suspect that his son is the reason why his family is falling apart. morbid, no? i don't want to spoil the disturbing ending for anyone, so i'll stop here. let's just say this kid knows waaaaaay to much about childhood psychology and pretty much redefines what a spoiled brat is. you don't want to know what happens when this kid doesn't (or does) get his way. nor do you really find out for sure.
jacob kogan, who plays joshua, is great. fantastically frightening. jacob's acting is spot on and 100% convincing. i never would have guessed that such a young inexperienced person could take on the role of a sociopath and deliver, perhaps better than, an actor with years of experience.
vera farmiga, who played abby, the mom, was also great. i'm glad i don't share that gene pool. post-partum and sociopathy?? tempting, but i'll pass. sam rockwell, aka brad the dad, was terrific. sam is a fantastic actor, ::cough:: who need to take on more roles ::cough:: and really grounds the two extremes in his family while trying to protect the only normal one.
i thought that joshua was thought provoking and unnerving at the same time. you should not see it if you currently harbor a phobia for young children; this movie will not alleviate your fears! there are children out there like young josh here, and we should all be prepared if one of them happens to spring to life in our own family or in the families of our close friends. this movie can help prepare us.
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i give joshua a b+
-t
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