John and the Hole Movie Review

“John and the Hole” is a story about a shy and quiet thirteen-year-old named John (Charlie Shotwell). John wants desperately to get control of his life but doesn’t know how to go about doing that.
He, in fact, doesn’t even know that’s what he desires. What he is entirely sure of is that he doesn’t want to be a child anymore. Three people sort of stand in the way of his doing that, his father Brad (Michael C. Hall), his mother Anna (Jennifer Ehle), and his older sister Laurie (Taissa Farmiga). What to do? What to do?

To get a feeling of the story, it’s nice to know who John is going in; otherwise, you could be a little lost. It’s hard to be asked to examine life with little to nothing to go on, but here, you’re asked to do that very thing. Luckily, the movie isn’t over two hours long as so many tend to be these days, so you have a relatively short amount of time in which you’re to figure him out. Everything I’ve mentioned so far is good or bad, depending on your taste. I tend to lean toward the good side of things with this one and think you will, too. It’s not an Academy Award® winner, I’ll be honest, but hang in there, and you’ll be entertained… as long as you don’t fall asleep. The movie does move at a slow pace and no matter how the narrative hits you, before long, you’ll feel as if you’re the one in the hole being neglected. So, it’s a little slow. It’s still a good at-home watch.

A month before John finds the hole, he asks his mother how it feels to be an adult. Little does she know, but the young man was dropping a hint that he wanted to be cured of what he saw as an illness, his youth, and dependence on others. Anna didn’t exactly know how to respond to him but finally did by saying that you never really stop being a kid, at heart, that is. She breaks it to him that you just have more responsibilities placed on you. She tells her husband and daughter that she believes he was disappointed in her response because he didn’t appear to have liked what she said.

The subject came up because now, the three of them are in the hole, John’s spot, which is an old, abandoned bunker the boy discovered in the woods. We don’t see too much of what leads up to John doing this. What we do witness is John, with expressionless eyes, drag his drugged father thru the house. Before he takes Brad, via wheelbarrow, through the woods to the hole, he even stops for a drink of orange juice. Gotta get his energy up! I can’t begin to imagine the logistical complications with all of this, but just set them aside and watch it for the personality study that it is. Let’s not look too far into the hows and whys of things.

With them safely tucked away, John is living out his fantasy of a carefree adult. He has no problems to resolve, no classes to attend, and none of the responsibilities that his mother suggested he’d have. More importantly, HE did this. Typically, his body has all the power of him. It doesn’t allow him to do anything he wants, but at this moment, he makes the decisions in his life. He chooses when to come and go and who comes over. In fact, he has a gaming buddy of his, Peter (Ben O’Brien), come by to spend some time with him. Peter is so jealous! They have the entire house to themselves. 

Thirty minutes into the film, writer Nicolás Giacobone, Oscar-Winning Co-Writer of “Birdman” and Co-Writer of “Biutiful,” throws something in that spins you off course. Little Lily sits in her bedroom where her mother is going to read her a bedtime story. She doesn’t want to hear about “Charlie and the Spider,” she wants her mother to read to her about “John and the Hole.” What?! Is this story a lesson of some sort? Well, looks as if that’s up to the person watching because with this thrown in, and with what John ends up doing in the end, a lot is put on you. In fact, maybe too much. You’ll appreciate the performances, I think you’ll enjoy how dark it is, but the story within a story wasn’t necessary and is a bit of a letdown. Overall, not a bad movie. It’s a cable watch for the performances and for the state of suspense you’re kept in. That’s always a fun time.