2023 HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW!
Every month more than ten thousand developmentally disabled individuals are sent to prison in the United States. Recently the California government has presented these people with the opportunity to appeal their sentences and ask for treatment instead. Forgiving Johnny is the story of one of the first public appeals under this pathway. However, even if the government can find it in themselves to forgive these individuals, it doesn’t mean that those affected by their crimes will have the ability to do so.
I find it incredibly interesting that a short documentary titled Forgiving Johnny actually has very little to do with Johnny himself. Viewers only see the titular individual a few times, and I’m not sure that we ever even hear him speak. With that said, however, the direction that the film takes is an interesting one, and I don’t believe that the somewhat misleading title does anything to hinder Forgiving Johnny.
So, while Johnny’s story is the vehicle by which this bigger story is told, and the bigger story is certainly interesting–this particular journey isn’t one that greatly interests me. Johnny and his family’s story, while wild in some senses, feels incredibly generic. In some ways I believe that it was the intention of Director Ben Proudfoot to use a somewhat generic story to make it easier for viewers to connect–but it just feels too redundant. It gives viewers the feeling like they’ve been there and done that, not necessarily themselves, but like they’ve heard similar stories before. With the story feeling so familiar, it didn’t connect with me, but rather it turned me off, even bored me a bit. I understand the significance of this case, but it wasn’t enough to pique my attention.
In the opening seconds of the film Proudfoot does something that sets the film up for success, at least in the sense that viewers will be willing to stick around until Forgiving Johnny’s conclusion. Noah Cox is the public defender responsible for Johnny’s case, and he is the most prominently showcased individual present in this short film. At the start of the film he is asked if there is anything that he needs to be forgiven for, and then Proudfoot temporarily abandons this, only to revisit it just before the close of the film. It was this that made me want to stick around; it was this that appealed to me and made me want answers. Johnny was either going to be forgiven or not–but Noah had a secret that he was likely to reveal before the film ended–and that’s the information that I wanted. Regardless of whether or not the juice was worth the squeeze in regard to Noah’s reveal, I wanted answers. I sort of just dealt with the rest of the film as I waited for answers–and this is the brightest part of Forgiving Johnny.
I can certainly understand why individuals would be attracted to Forgiving Johnny, why they might hear Johnny’s story and feel the need to sit and watch a documentary about him and his family. However, I felt like I’ve been here before, like I’ve heard so many similar stories–and the primary path that this film follows wasn’t really of interest to me as a result. It’s Noah that appealed to me. He and Proudfoot reeled me in at the start of the film, and they strung me along throughout its entirety. For better or for worse, Proudfoot did something at the start of his film that gave viewers a reason to stick around. Forgiving Johnny wasn’t what I had hoped, but it had some interesting moments.
Directed by Ben Proudfoot.
Starring Noah Cox, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
Comments