He also has pulled shattering performances from Sam Rockwell ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") and Vera Farmiga ("The Departed"). They play Brad and Abby Cairn, a perfectly matched couple with a perfectly behaved 9-year-old piano prodigy, Joshua (Jacob Kogan), a perfectly behaved dog and a perfectly furnished and specious New York apartment. The perfect world faces collapse with the birth of a second child, a daughter.
Tension starts when the new baby never stops crying, which makes Abby increasingly agitated and anxious. The affable Brad has to play worker bee, helpful dad and family booster all at the same time. Meanwhile, the ever-calm Joshua skulks around, seemingly unperturbed, but even his practicing for a recital puts his Mom on edge.
When Abby begins to fall apart, she calls her brother (Dallas Roberts), a gay composer who understands Jacob in a way his parents do not, and reluctantly, Brad's mother, Hazel (Celia Weston), who arrives to look after the kids while Abby recovers and Brad tries to hold on to his job under the scrutiny of an unsympathetic boss (Michael McKean). But as things continue to unravel, Joshua's parents come to fear that their son is more than just mature for his age and emotionally distant. He is, of course.
But while "Joshua" clearly seeks to inject the religious overtones and musty insularity of "Rosemary's Baby," it is never hokey or overly derivative, because it carefully avoids supernaturalism or academic explanation. It is, in the end, that rare thriller that makes sense and satisfies, while leaving us suitably unhinged. This article does not have any comments associated with it He also has pulled shattering performances from Sam Rockwell ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") and Vera Farmiga ("The Departed").
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