SUNDANCE ’26 REVIEW

Sundance ‘26: ‘JOSEPHINE’ Is a Feel Bad Movie Through the Eyes of a Child

Name: Sundance ‘26: ‘JOSEPHINE’ Is a Feel Bad Movie Through the Eyes of a Child
Item: 26: ‘josephine
Rating: 88
Author: Matt Oakes

By Matt Oakes · February 1, 2026

It’s the job of parents to keep kids safe. But that doesn’t mean safety is ever really within their control. Josephine, written, directed, and produced by Beth de Araújo, and winner of both the Sundance Jury and Audience Awards, is a thoroughly depressing, feel bad film about what happens when that illusion of control is shattered.

Eight-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves) witnesses something horrific in Golden Gate Park: a man violently raping a woman. The experience traumatizes her, yanking her into the adult world far too early, and in entirely the wrong way. Her parents respond as best they can. Mom (Gemma Chan) wants Josephine to see a psychiatrist. Dad (Channing Tatum) thinks self-defense classes will help. Their approach and philosophy on what’s best for Josephine is divisive, contentious even. Over time, that rift widens, and their relationship shows real signs of strain. Meanwhile, Josephine unravels. Her sense of the world is shattered. She becomes dysregulated, the shock of what she saw pulling her toward even darker emotional territory.

Araújo has said she wrote Josephine from a deeply personal place, shaped by trauma she experienced as a child. That perspective permeates every frame of the film. From its aggressive, unblinking opening to its depiction of Josephine’s slow psychological descent, Araújo controls the tone with precision. She visualizes PTSD in ways that are both literal and eerie: Josephine begins to see the rapist (Philip Ettinger) everywhere. He appears blurry and silent, lingering in the background of nearly every scene she’s in. He’s not just a man, but a specter, one that refuses to go away.

As can probably be assumed, Josephine is a difficult watch. The film doesn’t just explore the impact of trauma on a child, but also takes aim at the structural systems that fail to support victims. The police response is cold and procedural. The legal proceedings are insensitive, even hostile. It’s a justice system that prioritizes arrests and convictions over care. Josephine doesn’t just lose her innocence. It’s taken from her, and no one seems willing to help give it back to her.

What follows is a slow accumulation of behavior shifts and uncomfortable moments. Josephine lashes out at school, grows distant at home, and recoils from nearly every interaction. Her view of men changes. They become threats. She’s too young to understand consent, so any physical interaction becomes a trigger. Even seeing her parents being intimate with one another becomes overwhelming. Her world is now filled with invisible landmines she doesn’t yet know how to name.

Mason Reeves is phenomenal, playing Josephine with a haunting mix of fear, confusion, and something close to defiance. She’s trying to survive, and you can feel it in every scene. Tatum gives one of the most grounded performances of his career, portraying a father who wants to fix everything, but has to accept that he can’t. His daughter no longer sees him the same way. Chan brings quiet strength, maternal warmth, and a sense of steadiness that cuts through the chaos. She becomes a counterbalance not just to Tatum’s approach, but to the institutional coldness surrounding them. The only hope is that they can help Josephine move past her trauma before it completely overwhelms her.

CONCLUSION: Dark and potent, Beth de Araújo’s ‘Josephine‘ is a feel-bad movie about the downstream effects of trauma on someone too young to intellectualize what they’ve witnessed. The cast is tremendous across the board, even if the film itself will be too uncomfortable, and too unrelenting, for many to sit through.