John and the Hole (2021).
“I found the hole.”
Directed by Pascual Sisto
Written by Nicolas Giacobone
Starring Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, and a hole
The Stage.
A kid finds a big 20 foot cement hole in the woods by his house. He then puts his family in the hole. That’s it.
The Review.
It’s not very often that I watch a movie and stay utterly confused by what I just saw, and John and the Hole confused me on so many levels. There’s very little to this movie. John is a teenager who lives in what seems to be a pretty normal upper class family. One day while flying his drone, he finds an old bunker dig that was going to be used for something by someone at sometime, but has since been abandoned. He comes home, drugs his family, and wheelbarrows them to the edge of the hole to lower them down. In the morning, he tosses them some food and water, and then just does some teenage shit like playing video games and eating ice cream. He does this for a long time and then just lets his family out and they pretend nothing happened. There’s also a really fucked up wrap around story about a twelve-year-old girl who’s mom just says, “I’m leaving, there’s enough money in a shoebox there to last you about 10 months. You’re twelve, you’re ready.” that has absolutely no connection to the rest of the story. Or does it? Because the mom tells the little girl two stories - Charlie and the Spider (Charlie is the gardener who finds and trusts a spider, and is promptly bitten by it) and John and the Hole, which both are true stories.
This movie seems like a really interesting interpretation of a teenage psychopath at first and the tension is built to uncomfortable levels, but it stays in that gear until you’re tired of it and then finally fizzles out like a fart in a blizzard. The actor who plays John puts on a chilling performance, but does nothing with his newfound “freedom”. I guess maybe that’s the point. I think that the main story of John in the Hole is literally just a story and the wrap-around is reality. The mother is telling her these stories to somehow prepare her for what’s coming - her eventual abandonment. Unfortunately, it isn’t presented clearly enough - or with a sharp enough lesson - to matter. What’s the message? Maybe the whole movie is just about how that mother is a terrible story teller.
The End.
I thought about clever titles for this review - John is an Asshole, or John and the Hole Waste of 2 Hours, but I’m just going to say that I disliked this movie. I thought it was shot well, made some interesting choices (the film is presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio to simulate the square hole, I suppose, and the opening title card doesn’t hit until thirty minutes into the film), and had some quality acting, but it’s tiring and goes absolutely nowhere.
