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Joshua

Just the typical story of a kid slowly driving his parents insane

By Geoff Berkshire, Metromix

July 6, 2007

Critic's Rating:

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Brad (Sam Rockwell, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") and Abby (Vera Farmiga, "The Departed") are a happily married yuppie couple excited about the birth of their second child. Their first born, Joshua (Jacob Kogan), doesn't seem to share the enthusiasm. Suddenly, unusual incidents—including the embalming of a stuffed animal, misuse of the family video camera and disappearing school guinea pigs—begin to pile up.

Big question: Will this Sundance festival entry scare up an audience beyond the arthouse?

Catch it: Documentary filmmaker George Ratliff ("Hell House") successfully takes an edgy indie approach to this psychological thriller with shades of Roman Polanski ("Rosemary's Baby") and David Lynch ("Lost Highway"). Reliable talents Rockwell and Farmiga lend depth to their roles and Kogan is one seriously creepy kid.

Skip it: If you recently had, or are about to have, a child. That would be a little like watching "Jaws" right before taking a beach vacation.

Bottom line: It's sometimes frustrating to watch Joshua's parents behave so stupidly, but the movie's eerie vibe is genuinely disturbing and difficult to shake off. That's a good thing in this genre.

Bonus: Bored at the office, Brad types "naked horny women explicit sex" into an Internet search engine, but he's interrupted before we see the results. That's definitely "NSFW."

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