Over the past few years, Ari Aster has gained a distinguished reputation for the jarring, unpredictable feature films he has written and directed. Both Hereditary and Midsommar were praised not only for Aster's haunting narrative but the performances of each film's cast and the chilling score and cinematography that establish Aster's unsettling worlds. However, for all the attention Aster's feature films have received for their discomfort, his short films are even more unnerving.
Before the release of Hereditary and Midsommar, Aster wrote and directed numerous short films. It was the success of Aster's short films that enabled the success he found with the American Film Institute Conservatory. Following his work there, Aster made his feature directorial debut with Hereditary in 2018, followed by Midsommar in 2019. Those unfamiliar with Aster's work were in for a shocking surprise with the Graham family's twisted history, but several of Aster's short films deal with an equally unsettling family dynamic.
Ari Aster's Feature Films
All of Aster's feature films deal with family to some degree. In Hereditary, the Grahams are haunted by a demon and its cult following that ultimately results in the death of the family of four. At the helm of Midsommar, Dani (Florence Pugh) is burdened by the deaths of her family and the unhealthy relationship she has with her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor). Throughout the film, Dani is slowly integrated into another kind of family with their own traditions and bonds. Aster's most recent feature film, Beau Is Afraid, also delves into familial relationships, particularly between a son, a mother, and the romantic bond he hopes to form with a girl he met in his youth. Each of these feature films offers another glimpse into a complicated family that anyone would be horrified to confront or uncover about their own.
Ari Aster's Short Films
With a significantly shorter runtime, Aster's short films explore the horrid relationships within a family much more directly. Among the titles are Aster's 2011 short filmThe Strange Thing About the Johnsons and his 2013 short film Munchausen. Both offer commentary on the lengths a dominant figure may resort to to preserve a secret or possession of someone they deeply care for. This takes two different tracks in The Strange Thing About the Johnsons and Munchausen, but both include bodily harm for one family member to benefit another.
The silent short film, Munchausen, tells the story of a teenage boy (Liam Aiken) who is preparing to leave for college. His mother (Bonnie Bedelia) is not willing to let him go as easily, and in an act of desperation, poisons his food. Unfortunately, the boy falls too ill and despite her attempts to remedy the situation, he dies. This horrid story about a parent's love and possession that's gone wrong fits within the themes Aster explores throughout his work, including his feature films. However, Muchausen is certainly not Aster's most disturbing film. The Strange Thing About the Johnsons is not only peculiar in the manner in which he presents family, but of the serious issues Aster raises within his exploration of it. The short film is not only unsettling in its setting, staging, and cinematography that's often utilized by Aster's productions but also in how its issues are related to the non-narrative world.
What's Strange About the Johnsons?
What makes The Strange Thing About the Johnsons so memorable is the "strange thing" the title teases. The short film begins with what is seemingly a normal father-son moment about the education of a boy's evolving body. Yet, Aster quickly establishes that something is amiss aside from the unnerving, perfectionist line delivery from Sidney (Billy Mayo) to his son Isaiah (Carlon Jeffery). The object of the young boy's desire ends up not being a celebrity or athlete, but his own father. This establishes the backbone of The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, and the short film routinely explores the consequences of such a fixation.
On Isaiah's (now played by Brandon Greenhouse) wedding day, Isaiah does not sneak away to be with his bride, but his father. Sidney's wretched fear is inscribed in his stiff body language, tearful eyes, and stuttering speech whenever he is left alone with his son. Because the relationship is far from consensual and immoral, the father attempts to confess to others, including his wife Joan (Angela Bullock), about the abuse he suffers at the hands of his son, but they are always thwarted by Isaiah. Sidney's confinement is easily shared with viewers as the panic to conceal a confessing memoir on his slow desktop computer from the approaching footsteps of his son provides The Strange Thing About the Johnsons with a classic horror tool to build suspense that also creates a natural sympathy with Sidney.
The jealousy written on Isaiah's face during the loving touches between Sidney and Joan creates a sense of doom for what Sidney may face from Isaiah later. Most of the film's suspense is shared between their relationship and Sidney's desire to escape it by shedding light on it with his memoir; however, Joan is brought into the fray as she begins to articulate the disgust she has for her son and what he has done to his father. Naturally, the film ends just as grizzly as the theme it presents, raising questions about victims of sexual abuse and how they are silenced. With a film like this, it is difficult to anticipate a positive ending, and given the authentic challenges Aster presents in The Strange Thing About the Johnsons as well as his feature films, he has proven himself as a filmmaker willing to tackle challenging themes and present them genuinely.