Never in a million years did I think a short film (it's only a half hour) could disturb me more than any full length psychological thriller! For about a month or so I had seen stirrings throughout Tiktok and Twitter mentioning the level of insanity this produced. Leave it to Ari Aster to create something so sinister I had to clear my YouTube history so I didn't have to see the thumbnail whenever I logged on!
We all know that Ari Aster is the mastermind behind Midsommar & Hereditary, which I'm sure we all can agree kept us up and deep in thought trying to process what we had just seen. Finding out this was one of his first films, only proves his brain doesn't work like the majority of us! Have to give it to him though, as fucked up as this was - he has certainly evolved when it comes to his story telling. Now, on to the madness.
We open up with a young boy jerking it in bed to a photo when midway (I can only assume he had been at it for a little while at this point) his dad comes barging in telling him to get ready. Both startled, his dad (Sidney), rushes to close the door while profusely apologizing for invading his son's privacy. He asks to come back in and explains to his son (Isaiah) that what he was doing was completely natural and that he wasn't angry with him. While leaving his room, Sidney asks him to get ready to leave and the camera pans back to the photo that Isaiah was holding - a photo of HIS DAD as a young man! When I tell you I immediately felt queasy, it's not an understatement.
Fast forward years later and Isaiah is getting married. We see them taking a family photo, but Sidney isn't smiling. He looks stone faced with little to no expression. Isaiah then runs his hand along Sidney's back and cups his butt cheek! This was no locker room grab ass-ing that's for sure. Sidney's wife, Joan, is walking around the reception looking for Isaiah with no help from the guests. She makes it to the side of the house and hears some rustling behind the fence. While looking through the slits she sees Sidney standing like a statue while Isaiah rushes to unbutton his father's pants. Joan puts her hands over her mouth in shock and disgust, but walks away without saying a word.
After dinner one evening, we see Sidney in his study. He's an acclaimed poet and appears to be writing a memoir based on his experiences with his son and continual sexual abuse titled Cocoon Man: Confessions by Sidney Johnson. The irony is that his study is dark, with no lights except from the door being ajar and the hallway light sneaking in. He prints it out and leaves on his bed for Joan to find after her shower. Later, it seems that Isaiah has found it first and confronts his father. Isaiah insists that Sidney get rid of the transcript and delete any other copies he may have, guaranteeing the world will never know his side of the story.
In another instance, the Johnsons are having a New Year's Eve party. When the clock strikes 12, Isaiah passionately kisses his wife while staring at Sidney as if to make him jealous and/or very uncomfortable. As the other guests have left, Isaiah tells his wife that he is going to stay back and help his parents clean. Upstairs, Sidney is taking a bath and listening to a self-help audio book. Isaiah comes up and tries to get in the bathroom but the door is locked. Yelling "you know I don't like locked doors!" - he continues to use all of his strength to get the door open, Sidney not yet able to hear the commotion until it's too late. While Isaiah does the unfathomable to his father, Joan sits on the bed in her bedroom watching tv and crying all the while increasing the TVs volume to drown out the screams. The next morning, Sidney lifts the floor boards to remove a copy he saved of his memoir and tries to flee the house unnoticed. Unfortunately Isaiah is sitting in the living room in silence ready to confront his father. Sidney runs out of the house with manuscript in hand and gets run down and killed by a passing van.
After the funeral, Joan finally decides to confront her son and asks why Sidney had been crying after Isaiah's prom all those years ago. He denies remembering what his mother could possibly be talking about and she asks again, adding "is that when this all started?" Typical male gaslighting has Isaiah telling Joan she's delusional and has no idea what she's talking about. He adds that he loved Sidney more than she ever has or will. This causes a legit fight to the death to which Joan is able to get out of Isaiah's hold and bashes him with a fire iron repeatedly. She then takes the copy of Cocoon Man and throws it in to the fire - to never be read or spoken of again.
WOW - I have needed to talk about this for some time since watching it. Throughout my viewing I tried to guess what the big reveal would be. I had been lying in bed thinking there was going to be this major plot twist, like Isaiah was a robot. Or an alien even! More than likely I was probably trying to justify in my own mind how such a thing was made/why I watched it LOL I managed to tell the entire plot to a friend of mine the other night and she was on the edge of her seat. It's hard to say that I could recommend this short but it was so wild you had to see it to believe it. But do yourselves a favor - if you read this, no need to taint your YouTube history.
DMDb rating:
4 Stabs - very well done, but traumatizing
How many 'Stabby Stabs' would you give this movie?
- 1 (Who would watch this voluntarily?)
- 2-3 (Entertaining, yet ridiculous)
- 4-5 (How has this not won awards?)
- 0 (Never saw it, but loved the recap)
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