"JOHN AND THE HOLE" // SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

BY MATEO MORENO

Lead by four strong acting performances, JOHN AND THE HOLE is a perplexing kind of film. It's a film that builds and starts with a simmering uncomfortableness, one that seems to be warning you of things to come. Once those things do come though, the film sinks into a strange icy nothing, a stance that seems noncommittal to making a statement about anything.

Charlie Shotwell plays John, a 13-year-old quiet kid who often asks weird but non-threatening questions to his parents, leaving them to simply write him off as a bit of an odd kid. He seemingly has only one friend and is a child born of wealth. His parents (Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle) are supporting if somewhat icy parents, calling him "buddy" and saying things like, "If I'm home early enough, maybe we can toss around that ball," a phrasing that seems so out of an old TV show that you believe he probably pulled some parenting phrasing from old TV shows. He mops around, playing video games with a friend online, practices tennis and generally seems disinterested in general conversation other than his video game buddy.

One day, out of nowhere really, he mixes something in the lemonade he gives their gardener who abruptly passes out. Seemingly satisfied that it worked, he then turns his attention to his parents and older sister. He slips something into their food & drink and that night all three pass out so hard John is able to drag them outside without them waking out. He drags them to a hole, one that was left behind when a construction crew abandoned making an underground shelter. No reason is given for John's actions, nor does he seem to hate his family. Which makes the action even scarier. Is this a psychopath in the making? What will happen to the family after they suddenly wake up, look around and ask, "Where are we? Where's John?!"

The answer is... not much. JOHN AND THE HOLE builds at an incredibly slow pace and once the "hole" of the title comes into play, you might expect a dark turn of John's intentions or emotions. But we don't get any of that. Instead, we simply get John playing house and the family stuck in a hole. The emptiness of the latter half of the film simply drags on and what we're left to cling onto is the fine performances by the actors. As John, Charlie Shotwell displays an unsettling coldness to the world around him and his assured performance boldly sets what could be his breakout role. He doesn't let you in, because the film dictates that he can't, but you feel that he's holding something back, maybe a lot, from you and from those around him. As the family, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle and Taissa Farmiga are all great. Once they are trapped in the bunker, the acting shines, even if the film falters. The filmmakers are asking a lot of questions here and many of them are very intriguing (such as "What does John think he can do with any of these luxuries once his family is gone?"). But they also aren't concerned with answering them and though I'm a fan of not tying things up neatly by the end, almost nothing is even addressed let alone neatly tied up. It's a movie about coldness that sadly leaves you cold.

GRADE: C-

WRITTEN BY Nicolás Giacobone DIRECTED BY Pascual Sisto STARRING Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, Taissa Farmiga FEATURED AS PART OF THE 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: JOHN AND THE HOLE

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES // A FILM REVIEW OF "THE NEST"

BY MATEO MORENO

Often, when you see a giant, creaky new home in a film that seems too good to be true, filled with more rooms than a family could possibly imagine filling, there's something deeply scary or troubling ahead. The giant English countryside mansion in THE NEST is a haunted home of sorts. It's a home that is about to haunt their new residents, not with ghosts and murder, but with greed, lies and broken dreams. Jude Law plays Rory, an ambitious entrepreneur and former broker who can bullshit his way through nearly any situation and come out on top. That's how he's built his career. He's an moved to America to take it over, to be at the top of the 1%, which didn't happen. He's now married to Allison (Carrie Coon), a mild mannered woman who trains horses and together they are raising two children, Samantha (Oona Roche) and Ben (Charlie Shotwell).

Rory is the kind of guy who seems like a loving family man but says mean off-handed comments like, "Oh, shut up woman" with no regard to how cruel it is. He also is the kind of guy who lets a photographer take a family picture without his stepdaughter, only to then call her over for a second picture to include them all. Yet, when we see the picture later, he only developed the first. He's not a great guy, but he's driven and successful. At least so far. He moves his family from America to England, saying that there's an offer that will take him to the top of the game. They've done this before, but Allison isn't thrilled to be moving yet again. The house Rory sets up for them is something out of a Victorian era drama. It's a giant mansion, far too large for them but just right in the over-reaching mind of Rory. The children attend private schools that, Rory reminds everyone over and over, were "very hard to get into." He ships Allison's favorite horse to their new home and basks in the warm glow of adoration from his new boss Arthur Davis (Michael Culkin). If all of this seems like a dream, it's because it is and because Rory acts before actually planning, it's all about to come crashing down.

THE NEST is Writer/Director Sean Durkin's follow-up to Martha Marcy May Marlene and he hits a home run again here, expertly filling the screen with tension in the biggest and smallest of moments. Set in the 1980's, it's a time of endless possibilities and endless greed that often came shattering down at the same time. Rory knows how to bullshit and close a deal, but he doesn't know much else. He doesn't know how to be real or even tell the truth, honestly. His life is him pretending to be rich and trying to impress everyone around him, which ends up being quite a hollow existence. Jude Law dazzles in the role, sucking you into his greed and power hungry world with a performance that's both utterly charming and repulsive at the same time. He crafts a character that you don't want to be, but one you definitely have known at some point. Carrie Coon's performance is much quieter and achingly powerful. With small glances and gazes into the distance, Coon shatters the screen with a heartbreak that's all too relatable. The other main star in the film is the cinematography by Mátyás Erély. Shot after shot, we see a devastatingly beautiful visual storybook into this world. From what feels like candlelit hallway shots to serene English countryside, the visuals will haunt you just as they do the flawed and scarred characters that inhabit them.

GRADE: A

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Sean Durkin STARRING Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Oona Roche, Charlie Shotwell, Michael Culkin, Adeel Akhtar. Now playing in limited theatres and on VOD everywhere. For more info: https://www.nestmovie.com/