"Josephine, the titular character of Beth de Araujo's stunning second feature, is eight years old. Played by equally remarkable newcomer Mason Reeves, Josephine likes playing soccer with her dad Damien (a phenomenal Channing Tatum), with whom she is close the film's crisp, near wordless opening minutes, which shift seamlessly from Josephine's perspective to third party co-conspirator, running with the pair through San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, swiftly convey a tender, playful bond: supportive, teasing father and innocent child."
"Having run ahead of her father at the park, Josephine alone witnesses the brutal rape of a female jogger by a man in a distinctive aqua polo. Much to the audible shock of viewers at the Sundance premiere, de Araujo rejects the ellipsis now de rigueur in movies handling sexual assault, how much of post-MeToo cinema Promising Young Woman, She Said, Women Talking, last year's Sundance standout Sorry, Baby have skipped over or elided the actual assault, de-emphasizing violence"
An eight-year-old named Josephine shares a tender, playful bond with her father during near-wordless opening scenes set in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Josephine witnesses the brutal rape of a female jogger by a man in an aqua polo, and the film shows the assault in full from the child's vantage, juxtaposing the crime and the child's baffled, fearful face. Cinematographer Greta Zozula captures both violence and innocence in naturalistic light. The explicit depiction grounds Josephine's ensuing confusion, anger, and erratic behavior in a concrete horror replayed in her mind. Performances by Mason Reeves and Channing Tatum anchor the emotional core.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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