Sundance 2026: Beth de Araújo’s ‘Josephine’ is Awe-Inspiring Cinema
by Alex Billington January 24, 2026
Wow wow wow. It is nonetheless January and I am already able to drop my first full on 10/10 excellent assessment as a result of this movie deserves it. Top-of-the-line movies of 2026 simply premiered on the 2026 Sundance Movie Competition going down in Park Metropolis, Utah. Josephine is the REAL deal. I am blown away by this movie. Awe-inspiring filmmaking a few matter that’s extremely exhausting to speak about. However this movie will likely be talked about for years. I am not even certain the place to start out with it, all I wish to do is heap extra superlatives & hyperbolic reward onto it. I wish to seize everybody I see strolling across the streets of Park Metropolis on the pageant and inform them “you HAVE to see this!!” Watching movies at Sundance for the final 20 years, this pageant has premiered quite a lot of provocative movies about sexual assault, together with the unforgettable The Story at Sundance 2018 (which I nonetheless can always remember watching) and plenty of documentaries. Josephine is the most recent – impressed by a real story the filmmaker skilled herself when she was 8 years outdated, then writing & directing this movie a long time later.
Written & directed by the massively proficient filmmaker Beth de Araújo, Josephine is her second characteristic movie after her debut Mushy & Quiet in 2022. Within the movie, when 8-year-old Josephine (starring the superb Mason Reeves in her first ever function) by accident witnesses a horrible sexual assault in Golden Gate Park, she acts out in quest of a solution to regain management of her security, whereas adults are helpless to console her. The story is framed completely from her POV, following Jo (or JoJo – as her mother and father name her) as she struggles to cope with the aftermath of this occasion, not solely with how society nonetheless hasn’t found out easy methods to correctly cease and/or imprison many of the atrocious males who commit these crimes, additionally together with her younger thoughts not having the ability to actually make sense of what occurred and why everyone seems to be breaking down round her. Her mother and father are performed by Channing Tatum as Damien and Gemma Chan as Claire and they’re each magnificent of their roles as nicely. These three characters are the core of the movie are every excellent in their very own methods, dealing with the dynamic of the state of affairs in numerous methods but in addition being the energy Jo must step forward every new day.
This isn’t solely a delicate & difficult matter to debate appropriately in cinema, but it surely’s particularly exhausting to inform this story from the attitude of an 8-year-old baby. Rattling close to inconceivable – but Beth de Araújo has pulled it off. And that is solely a part of what makes this movie phenomenal. That is severely profound cinema. It is towering, extraordinary filmmaking that leaves you so moved, so impressed that you may’t even stand up out of your seat when the credit begin rolling. All I might muster was “wow.” I am glad festivals like Sundance are daring sufficient to help and play these sorts of movies – they’re severely vital for making a distinction on this planet. And I do not say that fairly often anymore, however this movie did have that type of large affect on me. And I hope it can additionally change everybody else who takes the time to look at it. What’s most astonishing is how compelling it’s to look at and the way countless artistic selections inside the filmmaking elevate this from a fancy story about society’s troubles into one thing that will likely be appraised & appreciated as a masterful achievement in trendy cinema. Scene after scene, shot after shot, the appearing, rating, all of it’s magnificent.
There’s actually nothing to actually criticize. I can not even consider one side that I’ve points with. I’ve seen loads of movies over 20 years of Sundance that cope with delicate subjects, however few of them ever characteristic such superbly daring filmmaking. The vivid rating by composer Miles Ross is distinctly chilling but in addition simply as profound & transferring because the story. All three of the lead performances are invigorating, every one mesmerizing and highly effective. The attractive visible selections with the cinematography by DP Greta Zozula are breathtaking. It is apparent that everybody concerned in making the movie believed in Beth de Araújo’s imaginative and prescient, and understood what she was attempting to do and why telling this unsettling but significant story about sexual assault via particular lens will be impactful. And it sticks the touchdown, too. It is exhausting to undergo a lot of this movie, a lot of this heavy, emotional, intense story with out the necessity to really feel like there’s one thing worthwhile to remove from it. And there’s – one other inconceivable achievement. That is the true energy of storytelling – we inform tales to make us all really feel just like the world is usually a higher place via our collective understanding of humanity’s flaws along with our strengths. Its these strengths which might be what really unite us and encourage us.
Alex’s Sundance 2026 Score: 10 out of 10Comply with Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
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