Joshua (2007 film)

Brad and Abby Cairn (Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga) are an affluent New York couple with two children. Their firstborn, a self-decided conservatively dressed 9-year-old, Joshua (Jacob Kogan), is a child prodigy on the piano with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces. He demonstrates limitless ability, to such a degree that he thinks and acts old before his time.

Joshua gravitates toward his clueless and oblivious Uncle Ned (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kin, particularly following the birth of his sister, Lily. 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, while Brad tries to keep things together but finds he can't help his wife, do well at his demanding job, or match wits with his sociopathic son.

Joshua causes a fight between his mother (who is Jewish, but non-religious) 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. Joshua later convinces his mother to join him in a game of hide-and-seek. As Abby counts to fifty, Joshua takes his 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 his sister 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 (who is sympathetic to Brad but also thinks that Abby will be fine given some time), Brad takes two weeks off from his job to look after Abby and the children, and his mother makes him feel worse by recounting all the ways he is failing as a husband and father, tying their problems to the evils of life in the big city, and demanding he quit his job and move the family to a rural area where they can be religious and happy. When he arrives home, Joshua has gone to the Brooklyn Museum with his sister and their grandmother Hazel (Celia Weston). Joshua frightens his grandmother by describing to her in detail about Seth, the Egyptian God of Chaos, and his violent acts. While they are at the museum, Brad watches a video tape of Joshua scaring his 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. By this point, Abby has had a complete psychotic breakdown and been institutionalized.

That night, Brad installs a lock on his bedroom door and tells Joshua that his sister 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 (Nancy Giles), a psychologist, into the home to meet Joshua. Betsy talks to Joshua and sees his disturbing drawings and comes to the erroneous 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 apologize. 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 child abuse and assault. In addition, it is indicated that Joshua has framed his father for tampering with his mother's medications, suggesting that Brad will spend the rest of his life in prison, leaving Ned to adopt 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 on the phone about having a nanny to take care of his sister. Afterwards, Ned sits with Joshua and the two compose a song with Joshua singing an original song. The lyrics of the song are basically how Joshua's parents both will never be loved by anyone now, and it is revealed in the song that he only wanted to be with Ned and got rid of everyone else. Ned finally realizes what Joshua has done and looks at him with a disturbed glance.

• Sam Rockwell as Brad Cairn
• Vera Farmiga as Abby Cairn
• Jacob Kogan as Joshua Cairn
• Celia Weston as Hazel Cairn
• Dallas Roberts as Ned Davidoff
• Michael McKean as Chester Jenkins
• Nancy Giles as Betsy Polschek
• Linda Larkin as Ms. Karen Danforth
• Alex Draper as Stewart Slocum
• Ezra Barnes as Fred Solomon
• Jodie Markell as Ruth Solomon
• Rufus Collins as Henry Abernathy
• Haviland Morris as Monique Abernathy
• Tom Bloom as Joe Cairn
• Jack Cortes as Mr. Wallace "Wally" Danforth

The film was directed by George Ratliff, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Gilbert. It was produced by Johnathan Dorfman and ATO Pictures, and was distributed Fox Searchlight Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The film was a special selection at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007.

Joshua was given a limited release in the United States on July 6, 2007.

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 was written by Nico Muhly and was available to download via iTunes.

• Joshua at IMDb
• Joshua at Rotten Tomatoes
• Joshua at Metacritic
• Joshua at Box Office Mojo
• Joshua at AllMovie