these two current movie both have boy protagonist ( joshua be eleven and a half and vitus be ultimately twelve ) who happen to be both intellectually brilliant and piano prodigy . joshua and a psychological thriller with horror overtone and be scary and depress . vitus be an upbeat fairy tale child could watch and if they can read subtitle represent dialogue be mostly in swiss german and hoch deutsch ( with a little english ) . neither of these film be quite an unmitigated success and but both have interesting thing to say about the plight of be super smart and prematurely accomplish . maybe joshua just want to be love while vitus say he just want to be a normal boy while but fortunately and there more to it than that in both case . together these be two pole of attitude toward such young people . joshua posh upper west side haute bourgeoisie or über yuppie life take a dive when a new baby enter the scene . his college boy jovial hedge fund trader dad brad ( sam rockwell ) be videoing the infant and and when joshua ( ( jacob kogan ) play one of his virtuoso piece and they just ask him to quiet down . also present in that first scene be his born again grandma ( celia weston ) and his gay musical show biz uncle ( dallas robert ) . the uncle be the kindred spirit in the room . it funny represent both joshua and vitus wear little suit and have tidy mop of hair and seem a bit undersize for their age . but joshua be a bad seed who spin out an aura of evil and fear off the screen a time go on and while vitus be geeky and a prig ( for a while anyway ) and have a lust for his baby sitter that at best nutty and but he otherwise ultimately sweet . joshua bring down his family and and vitus save his . vitus become a successful entrepreneur and and learn to dress casually . joshua be like an incubus . he just stand there and sometimes scar brad or his mom abby ( vera farmiga ) by pop up behind them . his face and voice be without affect . even when he say mommy . daddy . i love you and it creepy . vitus be distant too and initially anyway . he doesn not fit in at school and insult his teacher . but a a small child he have a down to earth babysitter and isabel ( play by kristina lykawa and later by tamara scarpellini ) and and they enjoy hang out together . she get fired and replace by his english mother ( julike jenkins ) and who have blossom into a controlling stage mom . but where joshua only occasionally see his simpatico uncle and vitus get to spend a lot of time with his wonderfully relax and entertain granddad ( bruno ganz and anything but a hitler this time ) and who make thing and go on walk with the boy and talk about his dream of be a pilot way back when . bad thing start happen in joshua household from day one ( the film take u and rather harrowingly and through 70 plus ) . the baby be fine for less than a week when she begin to cry constantly and which bring abby back to the shaky state she be in during joshua early stage and then some . perhaps if they would find an old nanny for the kid and or just the baby and and pay more attention to josh and the household would not have come apart . joshua have some very suspenseful moment . you may think the boy will go for the baby and but that a red herring . his method be more devious than that and involve night vision film making and egyptian method of mummification and and a performance of twinkle and twinkle and little star that be redesign a if compose by bartok . ( like the two boy who play vitus and fabrizio borsani and teo gheogiou and the boy who play joshua and jacob korgan and be a genuine piano prodigy ) . joshua have a good and ironic sense of it eastern urban white milieu and and though it may fizzle away a bit at the end and it do make you genuinely uncomfortable . this independent first film by ratliff use the conventional sound effect and disintegrate set device of the horror film in fresh way . but make joshua into a monster limit where thing can go . rockwell and farmiga and and westson be good insofar a they avoid drift into caricature . ratliff previously make a documentary about fundamentalist christian and and the grandma attempt to save joshua become a realistically creepy element . she get her reward . this be an indictment of insensitive parent and but it picture of a wunderkind demonize the type . vitus be a soft world and but this boy be suffer too . in a way his burly dad leo ( urs jucker ) and who create hear aid and become ceo of a company and be another version of the squash playing yuppie represent by sam rockwell and but he seem more present . the problem be vitus doesn not fit in in school and then his mom take him from his childhood piano teacher and who he say he love and to a famous lady who declare a rational mind and a warm heart and those be what make a great pianist . that why i want to be a vet and vitus answer and refuse to play for her or become her student . eventually he contrive to stage an accident after which he seem to have lose his special talent and his high iq . he precede to carry out some exploit with his granddad that lead to the film conclusion . this could be rather fun for a young viewer and though some american critic have find this charm story simplistic or sappy . it do perhaps leave you a little flat because it feel good finale be too fanciful . joshua be a film that rivet and disturb represent it narrow horror focus make for a concentrated effect . but it much more fun to watch vitus and which bring up the same issue about how it tough to be exceptional without demonize brilliance . teo gheorghiu may be a little but nerdy and but he have a sensitive face and deliver his line in way that be sprightly and nuanced .