Disinterested, detached adolescence brings “home alone” to an extreme in a mystifying psychological thriller. John and the Hole is about a tennis-obsessed spoiled brat who throws his family into an uncompleted underground room. He then proceeds to do strange things while his mother, father, and sister are lying helplessly in the sinking mud of a pit. There is much that does not make sense at all. The plot has nothing to do with anything else in the movie that I grasped not even a little bit. The basic concept of the film is promising enough. However, its story moves are too vague and implausible.
Thirteen-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) always questions every adult around him. This house stands alone amidst beautiful modernity deep in the forest. His rich parents, Brad (Michael C. Hall) and Anna (Jennifer Ehle), try to satisfy his desires all the time. Laurie (Taissa Farmiga), who happens to be his older sister kisses him on the forehead even when he’s been naughty again. While playing with a drone, he made a surprising discovery.
John’s mom explains that there was meant to be a bunker instead of this large hole behind the house which belonged to their former neighbor but was left unfinished by him or her as they moved out before completion. Anna doesn’t know that she has lost her potent prescription drugs which she needs for general health reasons definitely not for recreation purposes. A family goes to sleep in their rooms after dinner only to wake up frightened . They have been placed on blankets at the bottom of this underground area where they fell asleep last night. No one seems able or willing to hear them shout for help; they can’t get out themselves anyway. Anna is scared thinking that somebody has taken John away from her without her knowledge. Their attitude changes once they see John quietly peering down at them from above each other whilst inside there is also an odd mother (Georgia Lyman) telling a story to Lili her 12-year-old daughter (Samantha LeBretton).
The film is written by Nicolás Giacobone; based on his short story “El Pozo”. I’d love to know what the original material was so I can try to understand this perplexing tale. John lies and goes to great lengths to conceal his crime. He is not a psychopath but very much like a sociopath in appearance. John does not enjoy physically hurting his family members; he merely wants them out of his life forever. This suffering they go through is just collateral damage from him acting all grown up. The movie loses its mind once John invites over a friend of his own age. He’s clearly immature with no comprehension of his severe actions. These scenes are disturbing. Then veers into absurdity as others begin to doubt his story.
Those abductions are not mechanically feasible at all. John must be less than 100 pounds soaking wet and scrawny as fuck.No hint that he has been known for putting three adults down into a foot hole. But that explanation would never be believed by any sane adult who knows these people as the parents of the other children. The premise shown here obviously doesn’t hold water. Well, what wealthy family anywhere would just leave a gaping hole on their premises? But there’s only so much willing suspension of disbelief one can muster.
The second and third acts of this film leave many unanswered questions. I had issues with the bunker resolution. But nothing compares to Lily and her mother showing up in unrelated parts of the story which do nothing but confuse us further.Thus making Lily’s character effectively an anti-John figure. The things that happen to her are exactly what John wanted. Is she actually the protagonist of this film? John and the Hole finally leaves its audience trapped in a sinking mud pit then starts rolling credits.
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