Joey Magidson
A parent wants nothing more than to protect their child from the evils of the world. It’s the great irony of parenting that the one thing they seek to succeed at is one of the things that’s always doomed to fail. The horrors of real life will eventually visit upon their children. The extent to which varies, but no one gets to have their protective bubble remain un-popped. Josephine takes that chilling concept for a parental unit and plays it out to heat wrenching and devastatingly emotional effect. Playing at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, it’s an early highlight and potentially one of the year’s first awards hopefuls.
Josephine is the sort of festival movie that could have gone so wrong in so many ways. You can see all of the traps coming and worry that the film will fall into them, but it’s a testament to its filmmaker, as well as the central cast, that they’re almost all avoided. Two scenes in particular, at the beginning and towards the end, are heartbreaking in how vividly they depict innocence lost. At the same time, the flick does manage to leave you with a sense of hope, which given the material, is easier said than done, to be sure.
Eight year old Josephine (Mason Reeves) has a Sunday morning routine with her father, Damien (Channing Tatum). They get up early to watch a Premier League match, then go running in Golden Gate Park. One Sunday, Josephine runs a bit ahead, soccer ball in tow, Damien thinking nothing of it. However, coming to the top of a hill, she stops to watch a woman (Syra McCarthy) run into a public bathroom, which in and of itself, isn’t notable. It’s that Josephine also sees a man (Philip Ettinger) follow the woman inside. Screams and a struggle ensue, though before long he’s knocked her unconscious, removed her top and pants, undressed himself, and proceeds to rape her. Josephine sees all. Damien arrives, chasing the man away, then helping police track him down, while Josephine and the victim are with other cops. He’s been apprehended, but for the young girl, the trauma has only just begun.
It takes Damien and his wife Claire (Gemma Chan) only a moment to notice Josephine’s shattered innocence. Whether it’s grabbing her mom’s phone to clumsily look up what a rape is, acting out at school, or generally displaying troubling behavior, the parents are powerless to protect her from her thoughts. When it becomes clear that the rapist will walk unless Josephine testifies in court, the stakes raise, with Damien and Claire having differing opinions on what their daughter should do. When a decision is finally made, it leads to a sequence that will leave you breathless.
Mason Reeves is a major discovery, while Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum have never been better, with Tatum especially impressing. Reeves has to do so much eye acting for a young girl, as the actress clearly was not shown any of the trauma on the screen. It’s obviously some impressive work from the director (more on her in a bit), but Reeves has got the goods. Chan gets to be protective and tender, while also determined to shield what little innocence her daughter has left. Tatum goes for justice, wanting the man put away and Josephine to see that good triumphs over evil, even if life is far from fair. He truly will break your heart, as does a simple response from Reeves to an attorney while in court. Phillip Ettinger will haunt you with his silent performance, while Syra McCarthy showcases more strength for her character than many of us would be able to muster. Supporting performances include Michael Angelo Covino, Dana Millican, Eleanore Pienta, and more, but it’s all about the main trio of Chan, Reeves, and Tatum.
Filmmaker Beth de Araújo doesn’t spare us the sexual assault, but she manages to make it all the more upsetting by staging it largely from a child’s point of view. Her direction occasionally takes that avenue, though even without visual tricks, it’s still consistently powerful work. That’s because her screenplay is full of deep emotions, as well as an acknowledgment that we don’t have all the answers. In having Claire and Damien not know what to do, de Araújo is able to hammer home that once evil enters a child’s orbit, it’s hard, if not impossible, to put that genie back in the bottle.
Josephine hit me hard, which is obviously the intent. Likely to be the best Sundance title I see this year, it also has a chance to contend for some awards, provided it gets distribution. I really hope it does too, and soon, as this is the sort of independent cinema that the festival was designed to champion.
SCORE: ★★★1/2
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