Why are there so many American narratives about brilliant evil children? I'm guessing it's because a) these narratives fits perfectly into our incredibly narrow-minded ideology that everyone who behaves in an exceptionally immoral way is simply born that way, with all circumstances of upbringing and other experiences being completely irrelevant to how we turn out, and b) our enculturated stupidity and ignorance is justified by constantly associating intelligence with evil. The movie "Joshua" presents a perfect example of this kind of trite and idiotic story about a highly intelligent boy who in spite of being well cared for and affectionately nurtured wants to hurt his parents and others as much as possible for apparently no reason whatsoever. And, of course, Joshua's family is upper class, because God forbid Hollywood portray the existence of any other kind of social class in America. Nevertheless, most of the other elements of the movie--the directing, acting, cinematography, etc.--are well executed. However, providing beautiful packaging for the usual piece of trash only makes the trash all the more disappointing.
Review of Joshua
