JOSHUA (2012) Dir: Tim Porter

As a film reviewer and film buff in general, It's my duty to champion and support indie film and short films, this brings me to my good friend and film maker, Tim Porter, Tim recently finished a new short film and i've reviewed it for him. Check out the review along with an interview on the making of Joshua after the jump.

You may recall an interview I did with my friend and film-maker, Tim Porter in relation to his final year film project Juggling, well that film is in the can and Tim is no longer a student as he has graduated, but he didn't stop shooting, this summer, Tim and a crew of 5-6 people set out to make a short film on their own without the restraints of the university. What they came away with was Joshua, a look into the mind of an unstable human being.

Joshua is a dark, distressing film about child abuse. It follows title character, Joshua over a couple of days which follows Joshua getting up, working on a construction site, hanging out with his mate Paul and the shocking events that unfold one evening, all to the sounds of a central monologue which is both gentle and surprisingly unnerving. As subject matters go, Joshua presents us with one which is shamefully overlooked...child abuse. The great thing about Joshua is how Tim avoided gratuity in favour of making the viewer decide what is happening on screen, which is what horror movies have forgotten to do. This is what makes the film stand out from the usual short film subjects. Joshua is essentially a horror film but not in the traditional sense, it's more a human horror film, a film that looks at the lengths some individuals will go.

As for cast, the main protagonist, played brilliantly by Cyrus Trafford, come across as childish himself, there are scenes throughout the film which shows this child like behaviour such as the opening scene of Joshua watching a children's show. That's not to say Joshua is mentally retarded, but doesn't seem to be able to let go of childish things. Cyrus Trafford's softly spoken monologue is unnerving as he talks about this girl who he has fallen in love with. It's superbly written by Tim and Cyrus' reading of this monologue make the film that much darker. The monologue is very much like Riz Ortalani's score for Cannibal Holocaust, hauntingly beautiful but is offset by the darkness with in the film.

But we can't just commend Cyrus Trafford for the film, Christian Okoli's character, Paul, is just as guilty as Joshua, and while the film doesn't dwell on Paul, in the back of your mind you have a sense that Paul maybe an instigator of the events. There is one scene where Paul is sneaking through a woodland area just behind the home of the 'girl' which is not just sinister but also raises the tension of the film as the viewer is suspecting something is going to happen. Then we have Nancy Boo Orchis Evans, playing 'Eileen', a picture of innocence in a very dangerous situation which she has no idea of. While the part is completely silent, the image of 'Eileen' playing around in a play park takes the viewer out of the rising tension and lets them rest for a few before being quickly thrust into a situation that doesn't give them time to avoid. It's jolting and works well with the confused emotions of the viewer.

For a film that cost £350 and lasts just under 16 minutes, Joshua looks fantastic, the cinematography by Jonathan Maguire works really well, the black and white images show us a bleakness that is rarely seen in film these days, the film also dips in and out of washed out colours, mainly red, which for anyone who knows anything about horror, is a sign that something bad is coming. It's visual poetry as the film flows like works, continually moving along.

Having been involved in the film myself from the get go, I have to say I had doubts that Tim could pull this off after the trouble he had on Juggling but I have to commend him on this film, it's head and shoulders above Juggling. Joshua is a moving, superbly shot, written, directed and acted short film. It addresses something we as a country avoid and because of the films subject it may be it's downfall but from a reviewers perspective, Tim Porter's Joshua is an important film.