Talk about a thrilling short film! "The Strange Thing about the Johnsons" is probably the most intense short I've seen. Even disturbing from the opening shots, the first twist is a jaw-dropping shock for anyone who doesn't know the plot of the film.
First of all, Pawel Pogorzelski's cinematography is top notch, especially the framing and camera movements. Ari Aster's direction and script are also nice, though the screenplay does have some faults toward the end, which I will get into later.
"The Strange Thing about the Johnsons" follows a family in which a son sexually abuses his father. It's an interesting take on a broken, exploitative family dynamic that I've frankly never seen before. Of course the mother knows, but how could she say anything? It would be embarrassing to discuss as a family, and if brought up in a lawsuit, could put her son behind bars. She's confronted by a harrowing dilemma. Ultimately, she chooses the easy way, which is unfortunate what most families do; she turns a blind eye to her son's abuse.
The story starts with Isaiah's sexual obsession with his father, a poet named Sidney, but his fantasies become reality on prom night. By the time prom comes around, Isaiah is finally big enough to take advantage of Sidney. Of course, Sidney is traumatized. Years later, Sidney writes a confession entitled "Cocoon Man," which details his abuse. Like many abuse victims, he believes that he is as guilty as his son for letting it happen. Isaiah discovers a copy of "Cocoon Man" and confronts his father about it, making sure his father knows that the story will never be heard. Some time later, Sidney goes out to presumably get the work published, but Isaiah takes notice once again.
This is where the screenplay starts to fall apart. Sidney runs out the door and is hit by a vehicle, which kills him. It was a rather cliché and abrupt death. Another issue with this scene is that the driver gets out of the car and says absolutely nothing. He simply stands silently beside the man he has just killed, which took me out of the movie for a bit.
Luckily, the story picks back up, and Isaiah's mom, Joan, confronts him by asking why his father cried after driving him home from prom. This leads to mother and son in an altercation, resulting in Joan sustaining injuries and Isaiah's death. Joan burns her copy of "Cocoon Man," symbolizing how secrets of abuse die with families and never make it out to the world. It's a cold, uncomfortable truth that countless families live with in secret. "The Strange Thing about the Johnsons" simply adds a twist with the son as the abuser, steering clear of grooming and cuts straight to the fact that abuse happens.
I've heard some people say that Sidney started the abuse, but there is only shaky, easily disproven evidence for this. We are shown in the opening scene that Isaiah is sexually attracted to his dad, while Sidney shows no sexual interest in exploiting his son when he walks in on him. In the first "Cocoon Man" scene, Sidney writes that he is guilty because he, as mentioned, believes that he should have been able to stop it and that it should have never happened. Now the abuse just happens, and there is nothing he can do to stop it. He can't tell anyone because his wife ignores it, and he loves his son; he doesn't want to incriminate him. In the second confrontational scene, Isaiah is only gaslighting his father by telling him that he enjoys it. As seen in the writing, New Year's, and bathroom scenes, Sidney is horrified of his son and his abuse. There is no possible way that Sidney is compliant in the abuse.
Though the script's final act includes some lazy writing, "The Strange Thing about the Johnsons" is a beautifully shot discussion of how abuse manifests itself in families and never reaches the light of a courtroom. Oftentimes families find it too difficult to discuss or can't bring themselves to address the abuse in any other way. How do you tell your son to stop abusing his father? He will not listen. How do you tell law enforcement about your son's abuse? It's hard to discuss and they will either not believe you or your son will be prosecuted. To be the reason your son is imprisoned, regardless of if he wronged you, is heart-wrenching for most parents, and it is heart-wrenching for audiences to witness as well.
Rating: B+
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