Tuesday, June 23, 2020

LRF NOW Director's Cut: Oh Johnny Boy


Oh Johnny Boy - Director's Cut
Genre: Drama
Director: Alex Conn
Writer: Alex Conn
Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Mark Strong, Katherine Langford, Keiynan Lonsdale, Alexandra Shipp, Jean Dujardin

Plot: Johnny (Timothee Chalamet) is in school and he is out as gay and he is beat up by two football players calling him all kinds of homophobic slurs. He goes home and cries. He watches some TV on Netflix but it does not help his sadness. After that Johnny gets a knife and cuts himself. His mom sees the bleeding and gets him in the car.

His parents Kate (Laura Dern) and Paul (Mark Strong) take him to a hospital. The doctor commits him to 72 hours. He meets a kid named Darwin (Keiynan Lonsdale) who is his roommate who got here due to his anger issues and a fist fight he got in his school. Darwin tells Johnny he aspires to be a psychologist and that he was sexually abused by his mother but sadly still has to live with her . Darwin also tells Johnny that there are many rules to the hospital like no patient contact and to go to as many hospital activities as you can and also that if you break rules you can go into the seclusion room and that you are basically watched 24/7 and someone checks on you every 15 minutes when you sleep.

The first day after he wakes up he's there he witnesses a fist fight between two of the patients Chanel (Alexandra Shipp) who is a young black woman and Emma (Katherine Langford) who is from the suburbs. The first thing that happens is school time which happens once a week for the kids to catch up on their schoolwork. The orderly Andrei (Woody Harrelson) says if the person reveals who they are they will not be punished but they will be if by the end of the day they don’t. One of the kids tells Johnny that they heard Andrei beats kid to a pulp when he punishes them. Next is group it is revealed in groups that Emma was raped by her weed dealer and she started cutting herself and she eventually attempted suicide by trying to overdose on prescription depression medication. Chanel is revealed to have beaten up her mother and she reveals that she has lost all faith in mothers in general. After group He finds a pastor (Jean Dujardin) who is wearing a LGBT flag. He comes out to this pastor and they talk about Johnny’s personal faith and although Johnny is an atheist he finds what the pastor saying is resonant.

Johnny meets with his treatment team where he reveals he just wants to go home. He finds out his stay was extended to Monday due to further observation reasons. His psychiatrist Dr. Benson (Mark Ruffalo) meets him in his room and tries to calm him down. We reveal that Dr. Benson is a former actor who is gay and they relate due to their passion for the stage and their homosexuality.

That night Darwin’s mother comes in to visit and Darwin hugs her. Darwin’s mother starts verbally assaulting Darwin.

Johnny reveals his sexuality to his roommate Darwin who reveals he is also gay and he kisses Darwin and Johnny has a big smile on his face. When they wake up Darwin and Johnny have a long conversation including about how Darwin realized he was gay when he saw a guy shirtless on television and Johnny tells it was when he started crushing on his best friend in middle school and he revealed his feelings and the other boy ran away. That night Darwin reveals that he has never told his mom that he is gay and Johnny is super surprised and Johnny suggests that he practice coming out to his mom by pretending Johnny is his mom. Darwin then practices coming out to his mom and he accepts it as his mom but Darwin assures him that his mom is gonna be harder. Johnny promises Darwin that he will take him to dinner after he gets let out and Darwin says he don't think that will happen.

Johnny then has a session with Dr Benson and tells him that he is in love with Darwin but he says that there is no way for this to work and he warns him not to do it as the staff especially Andrei can be homophobic and that also that this stay is supposed to get you better not to meet other people.
The next day Johnny and Darwin have sex and they try to do it secretly but it does not work out as Andrei comes and drags him into the seclusion room.

He is basically in solitary confinement for the next few days. The entire unit is asked to come into the day room where they are told that Johnny is in the seclusion room and Darwin asks why and Andrei says for assaulting a staff member. Darwin overhears Chanel and some of the other people talk about how Johnny was a fag and Darwin corrects her and she spits on him. In solitary confinement Dr. Benson visits Johnny and Johnny is crying and Johnny keeps saying that he loves Darwin and Dr. Benson tries to comfort him and says that it would serve him best not to express his homosexuality and to stay away from Darwin during the duration of his stay due to Andrei's homophobia. Dr Benson then leaves Johnny even though Johnny screams for Dr. Benson to come back.

During the solitary confinement Darwin and Emma start becoming friends and Darwin tells Emma about Johnny. The next day Emma lures Darwin into her bedroom and tries to seduce him Darwin starts to have sex with her but eventually can’t bring himself to do it. We see Andrei in the hallway encouraging him to finish it and then forcing him to have sex with Emma. After this Johnny witnessed another meeting between Darwin and his mother but from the perspective of Johnny and Darwin screams at his mother and is taken away by hospital staff.

Johnny eventually is let out but he is sent to meet in Andrei's office. Andrei has a poster of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in his office. Andrei threatens to tell his treatment team if he tells them about his beating but he is required to stay away from Darwin and they are switching beds . He tells Dr Benson in their private meeting. Dr Benson promises not to tell anyone. Johnny sees Darwin as he is being moved to his room. Johnny's parents come to visit and see Andrei being threatening to Johnny and Johnny hugs his parents.

Johnny's parents reveal this to the hospital and they get an email back saying they will release him with a NDA signed by Johnny and his parents not to reveal any of this. Johnny prepares to leave. Eventually Him and Dr. Benson share their last hug. Darwin leaves his number on Morse code. Chanel and Emma look at Johnny leaving with angry faces and cry. Before he leaves Emma and Chanel both say that it is ok to be gay.

Johnny is exiting the hospital and there is a shot of this hospital leaving focus. Johnny is crying and he starts worrying about Darwin and Emma’s struggles. His parents tell him to forget about them and that your life is more important.

Johnny comes home to his room which he wrote the Facebook post in. He sits and thinks about Darwin in specific. He imagines a future where Darwin is with his mother that sexually abused him and he cries. His mother comes to check in on him and Johnny describes his love for Darwin and his mother assures him he will find another love like that.

10 days later it is revealed that Johnny has joined a new private high school and has joined their new theater department and he gets a text from Darwin asking to see him and Johnny tells him to see Legally Blonde.

The high school musical is on and it is Legally Blonde and he plays Kyle and he notices several people from the hospital in the audience including Chanel and Emma. Chanel and Emma reunite with Johnny after the show and Chanel says that Darwin committed suicide and he is in the hospital but he left a letter and Emma reads a poem that Darwin wrote prior to his suicide. Johnny has tears in his eyes and everyone is all tearful and they decide to go to dinner together.


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