Welcome to 2008! As I declared in my last blog post about Firehouse Dog, what I've referred to as the "Baby Josh" era has officially come to a close, and a new era of Josh Hutcherson begins. I'm not sure what I'll call this one yet, but stay tuned!
WARNING: This post will touch on sensitive subject matter (gun violence/mass shootings). If you're not in the headspace to engage with this post right now, totally fine - I've got many others to check out instead!
No matter what we call this era, it sure starts out intense. In Winged Creatures (later released on DVD as Fragments) Josh plays Jimmy, a kid whose life is turned upside down when he and his friend experience a mass shooting at a local diner. We'll get into plot later, but first...can we acknowledge the new longer hair style (pictured above)? Since I'm just a year older than Josh, I can confirm that his 2008 locks were indeed trendy back then. I can think of a few other actors I was crushin' on at that time that were rocking similar looks.
In this film, Josh not only debuts new hair...but a new voice! I think this is the first film where I noticed his voice drop, and sound a bit more like what we recognize today. Ironically, though, we don't hear that voice too much in the film, making this one of the most interesting and unique Josh performances.
What makes this film so different? Well, it centers around sensitive subject matter, yes, but Josh's script may have had a lot less highlighted text than his cast mates. Josh hardly speaks in this film. We hear him in the beginning, and at the end (which may be his best performance ever - I was blown away - more on that later) but other than that...HE IS SILENT THIS ENTIRE FILM. His character, Jimmy, reacts to the shooting with silence. He refuses to talk to his family, the counselor who persistently tries to help him, or Annie, the friend who he experienced the incident with (played by Dakota Fanning).
What stands out to me is how much I've praised Josh's facial expressions throughout my marathon and how I've noticed he's particularly gifted in this area. Therefore, it makes sense why he'd be cast to taken on this role. While he didn't have many speaking lines, he appeared in a decent amount of scenes, and it was Josh's job to convey Jimmy's state of mind without a single word.
At the end, Jimmy explodes, demanding that his friend tell her mother the truth about the incident. Up until this time, Annie was dealing with the incident in a different way than Jimmy was. She came up with a new narrative, declaring her father a brave man and leaning more into her Christian faith, even though she wasn't particular active in her faith before this happened. The explosive scene allowed Josh to really shine - he depicts the hurt, anger, confusion, and betrayal so beautifully that it gave me goosebumps.
This film wasn't a hit, but I consider this one of Josh's most interesting roles to date. While I missed hearing his voice, it gave him the chance to really show his stuff as an actor. He didn't have the benefit of lines to express emotion - it was all through his eyes, facial expressions, body language, etc.
If you'd like to watch Winged Creatures/Fragments, you can find this movie for sale on almost all platforms, but at the time of this writing, it's only available for purchase/rent and not streaming through a service like MAX.
We still have one 2008 movie to discuss, so onward!
Peace and Joshperity,
G
Comments