JOSHUA
RYAN: Initially, I did not want to see “Joshua,” because I didn’t know much about it and I just wasn’t that interested. You, on the other hand, were very interested because your friend is the director.
CAROLINE: Yes, that’s true, my friend George directed this movie. I’ve been hearing about the project for a long time, and it was a B.F.D. when it got into Sundance and an even bigger F.D. when it got bought by Fox Searchlight. It’s all very exciting.
RYAN: That being said, we seem to have done a bait and switch because I seemed to like this film much more than you did.
CAROLINE: So not true! I really liked it. But you are like, crowing about it.
RYAN: I believe this film may have entered its way into my top twenty favorite films of all time.
CAROLINE: I’m so thrilled, as I’m sure George will be. Tell us why.
RYAN: Well, kudos to Jorge, because the film is brilliantly directed. It’s a thriller as opposed to a horror film, and the music is the best of any scary film I’ve ever seen.
CAROLINE: The music is really incredible. I noticed it from the very beginning, and then later I was like, “Ooh, it’s the creepy violins again!”
RYAN: It’s terribly effective. And the performances are outstanding. Vera Fermiga is great.
CAROLINE: She also played Matt Damon’s girlfriend in “The Departed.”
RYAN: She was so brilliant in “Joshua,” I almost didn’t know what to do about it. As was Sam Rockwell, in probably the best performance I’ve ever seen him in.
CAROLINE: It was fun to see him playing a dad. I felt like I hadn’t seen him doing that yet. He plays this normal, New York City-dwelling, wealthy guy who’s just trying to sustain his family… until mayhem ensues.
RYAN: I think the scariest films are ones where things happen that could actually happen in real life, and this film is one of those. That’s why it terrified me. When I walked out of the theater, I said to you, “I might not be able to sleep tonight.”
CAROLINE: The kid who plays Joshua is very creepy and he has a boufy hairdo. The movie has twinges of “The Omen” or “The Bad Seed,” the latter of which I didn’t see but is also about a psycho kid. It also has a really funny actress playing the grandmother, Celia Weston, whom I adored in “Flirting with Disaster.”
RYAN: And we loved the gay uncle.
CAROLINE: Totally! Dallas Roberts HI-larious. Everyone’s great in the movie, but even if everyone were bad, the movie would still be great just because of him. He’s so funny.
RYAN: We don’t want to give away any plot, but this is definitely one of those movies where you want to deconstruct it on the way out of the theater. We talked about it for like twenty blocks walking.
CAROLINE: I feel like I was a little dumb at the end and I didn’t fully get what happened, which happens to me sometimes. I needed Ryan to clarify a couple things. But now I feel like I’ve gotten a grip on it. The point being, there’s a lot of food for thought in this movie. Bottom line?
RYAN: Brilliant performances, beautiful direction and camera work, insanely great music. I think if people come out to see this movie, it could become a classic thriller.
CAROLINE: The movie has a slight indie vibe which isn’t to say it’s not well made; it’s just not flashy, and I liked that. It takes its time and lets the story unfold. It feels like a very real slice-of-life of this one family, until things start to go haywire. And it’s fun.
RYAN: Super fun.