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 overview as a result of this movie deserves it. Probably the greatest movies of 2026 simply premiered on the 2026 Sundance Movie Competition happening in Park Metropolis, Utah. Josephine is the REAL deal. I am blown away by this movie. Awe-inspiring filmmaking a couple of matter that’s extremely onerous 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 competition and inform them “you HAVE to see this!!” Watching movies at Sundance for the final 20 years, this competition has premiered plenty of provocative movies about sexual assault, together with the unforgettable The Story at Sundance 2018 (which I nonetheless can always remember watching) and lots of documentaries. Josephine is the newest – impressed by a real story the filmmaker skilled herself when she was 8 years outdated, then writing & directing this movie many years later.
Written & directed by the massively proficient filmmaker Beth de Araújo, Josephine is her second characteristic movie after her debut Comfortable & Quiet in 2022. Within the movie, when 8-year-old Josephine (starring the wonderful 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 method to regain management of her security, whereas adults are helpless to console her. The story is framed solely from her POV, following Jo (or JoJo – as her mother and father name her) as she struggles to take care of the aftermath of this occasion, not solely with how society nonetheless hasn’t found out the right way to correctly cease and/or imprison a lot 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 effectively. These three characters are the core of the movie are every excellent in their very own methods, dealing with the dynamic of the scenario 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, nevertheless it’s particularly onerous to inform this story from the angle of an 8-year-old youngster. Rattling close to unimaginable – but Beth de Araújo has pulled it off. And that is solely a part of what makes this movie phenomenal. That is critically 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 may muster was “wow.” I am glad festivals like Sundance are daring sufficient to assist and play these sorts of movies – they’re critically vital for making a distinction on this planet. And I do not say that fairly often anymore, however this movie did have that sort of huge affect on me. And I hope it would 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 infinite artistic selections throughout the filmmaking elevate this from a posh 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 truthfully nothing to essentially criticize. I can not even consider one facet that I’ve points with. I’ve seen loads of movies over 20 years of Sundance that take care of delicate matters, 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 & shifting 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 by particular lens may be impactful. And it sticks the touchdown, too. It is onerous 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 may be – one other unimaginable 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 by our collective understanding of humanity’s flaws along with our strengths. Its these strengths which can be what really unite us and encourage us.
Alex’s Sundance 2026 Ranking: 10 out of 10Comply with Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
