John and the Hole
98 Minutes, Not yet rated
Written by Nicolás Giacobone
Directed by Pascual Sisto
Synopsis:
A coming-of-age psychological thriller that plays out the unsettling reality of a kid who holds his family captive in a hole in the ground.
This is a film that was going to be at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020, but… 2020.
Instead, we got to see it during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The write-up alone was enough to put it on our “must-see” list.
Boy traps family in hole and does a sociopathic version of Home Alone (as if Home Alone wasn’t really about a sociopathic kid… but we digress.)
What really sells this movie is the performance of Charlie Shotwell as John, a middling-level tennis player prepping for a qualifying tournament. It’s apparently a very big deal.
But John is really kind of disconnected from his life, and his family, specifically. He finds some pills, takes one, realizes they make him sleepy, and apparently hatches his plan for some quality “me” time.
Quick aside: when he asks his sister “how many pills do you have?” and she doesn’t catch on, you kind of understand John’s feelings about his sibling.
But once the family is stuck in the hole, John finally lives the life he wants… which is a lot like his life before they were in the hole, except he drives around his dad’s car, taking money out of the ATM to buy… a metric ton of chicken nuggets and pizza…and play video games: tennis, which he is very good at.
Until the final moments, it’s unclear whether John will release his family or not, and the denouement at the dinner table is unnerving for many reasons, which we will leave to you to experience for yourselves.
Overall, John and the Hole is a solid film, and an intimate look at the inner workings of a teenage mind. We recommend it when it finds its distribution destination.
John and the Hole stars Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, and Taissa Farmiga.
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