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John and the Hole

2021

Pascual Sisto

Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, Taissa Farmiga ...

4.9

555

Mystery While exploring the neighboring woods, 13-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) discovers an unfinished bunker—a deep hole in the ground. Seemingly without provocation, he drugs his affluent parents (Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle) and older sister (Taissa Farmiga) and drags their unconscious bodies into the bunker, where he holds them captive. As they anxiously wait for John to free them from the hole, the boy returns home, where he can finally do what he wants. [+]

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"A visually striking yet frustratingly dead-ending film with a talented yet wasted cast (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Matt Goldberg Collider	"Because Sisto’s storytelling is so weak and his concept is so broad, the film could be about anything, which means it’s nothing but a waste of time."	NEG
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"It’s calculated and precise and meticulously constructed in a way that will be of considerable interest to audiences who appreciate stories that unsettle"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"Shotwell’s turn is the movie’s greatest asset (...) At their best, Sisto and Giacobone bring an almost painterly sophistication to the notion of domesticity gone awry; at worst, they mistake low-key misery for depth"	NEU
United States	Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"The result is an experiment in blank affect and fractured domesticity that drags itself to a disappointing ending, one that only confirms it never really had anything on its mind."	NEG
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"Sisto has an arresting visual style, a firm command of tone and an impressive ability to steer his fine cast onto the same rigorous wavelength, all of which makes him a talent to watch"	POS
United States	Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"Sisto clearly has a vision of what he’d like to accomplish (...) but the almost overt influences of any number of other filmmakers (...) have the cumulative effect of making the proceedings feel numbingly familiar"	NEU
United States	Meagan Navarro Bloody Disgusting	"Sisto’s debut feels like a great idea stretched far too thin. John embarks on a series of disturbing social experiments, and it ultimately doesn’t amount to much (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
Canada	Peter Martin Screen Anarchy	"The actors elevate what might sound like a mundane thriller into something resembling high art (...) For all its apparent simplicity and maddening narrative turns, [it] stubbornly burrows its way deep into the subconscious"	POS
United States	Carlos Aguilar The Wrap	"Sisto's commitment to thematic abstraction, and the cinematic delivery of heady ideas through mildly stylized naturalism, puts him on a similar wavelength as revered filmmakers. Not a bad outcome"	POS

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