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‘John and the Hole’ needed more hole | Sundance movie review

Charlie Shotwell appears in John and the Hole by Pascual Sisto, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Paul Özgür.

John and the Hole follows a teen named John who holds his entire family captive in a deep concrete hole in the middle of the woods.

John and the Hole as an intriguing enough premise holds you for some of its running time, but its lack of commitment to the black comedy or biting satire that it begs for leaves you wanting it to dig deeper.

A boy named John (Charlie Shotwell) stumbles through the woods looking for his lost drone and instead happens upon a nearly ten-meter deep concrete hole in the ground. Cue title card John and the Hole. Fascinatingly we don't get that title card until about thirty minutes into the film when we cut away from John's narrative to a young girl in an alternate story (universe?) who asks her mother to tell her the story of “John and the Hole.”

That aside does a lot for the film, which premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It tells us that this is a cautionary tale rather than a depiction of real life. That's partly why it feels so akin to director Yorgos Lanthimos' work like Dogtooth or The Killing of the Sacred Deer. It's clear that John and the Hole director Pascual Sisto — this is his directorial debut — was at least inspired by those films. It also explains why this film was a selection at the canceled 2020 Cannes Film Festival — Lanthimos was a favorite.

We don't learn much about the titular John other than the fact that he's motivated to be an adult, which partially explains why one night he systematically and quietly drugs his family — father Brad (Michael C. Hall), mother Anna (Jennifer Ehle) and sister Laurie (Taissa Farmiga) — and places them at the bottom of the titular hole with no way out.

Outside of the hole John drives his parents' car, buys himself food with money he withdraws from the ATM, and even tries and propositions Anna's friend. It's like a twisted version of Home Alone. Meanwhile, in the hole, the family struggles to understand why John is doing this to them. From what little interaction we see it seems the family is well-adjusted and loving. And John still cares for them by bringing them water and food — he even cooks them risotto at one point, the only time he actually addresses them.

And while this setup and much of the plot feels prime for some Lanthimos-like black comedy or a stinging satire on parenting, it feels like the movie is just kind of there. Sisto noted that he got the inspiration for the film after reading an article about “snowplow parenting,” a strategy where parents clear any potential obstacles or challenges for their children to succeed. And while I can see the story pushing for some commentary on the subject, it never really scratches the surface.

There's so much potential in a movie with the premise (hell, even the title) of John and the Hole. But what makes Lanthimos such a successful and singular filmmaker is his ability to find the outsized versions of humanity in his absurdist situations. John and the Hole is almost too realistic in its approach to even hold your attention. Honestly, a little less John and a little more hole would have done wonders for this movie.

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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.