From con men to property positionsThe David Mamet Have made a career of writing characters who know how to see a sucker. And with ”Henry Johnson” his first film in ten yearsHe invites his dedicated to look under the hood and examine the psyche for one of the weak, easily manipulated individuals as his most memorable characters spend their lives exploiting.
Adapted from his game of the same name, which premiered in Los Angeles in 2023 before mounting a Chicago production this spring, “Henry Johnson” develops during four two-handed scenes. Like all Mamet -the pursuit, the real star is the language. Large plotting events occur almost completely offscreen, with their ensemble of characters who use them as jumping off pointing to soliloquize about everything from the value of therapy to Snow White’s vagina. Everyone has preconceived opinions about their writing style, but the mother uses it, with more substance than recently incorrect as the infinite phone call in “China Doll” or the critically cursed Harvey Weinstein plays “bitter wheat.” The Pulitzer winner has something to say, but if someone still wants to hear it is another question completely.
From the moment Henry Johnson (Evan Jonigkeit) shows up on the screen, he works in service for more powerful men. He is approaching early Barnes (Chris Bauer), his manager at an unspecified job, with a request to hire a friend of his who is eligible for trial. Mr. Barnes – who emasculates Henry with his body language and safe presence before ever opening his mouth – does not understand why he should help someone who pleaded guilty to murder and continues to grill his employee for his affection for this imprisoned man.
While Henry initially tries to spin his behavior as a benevolent act of kindness, children’s effectively makes the case that Henry was only manipulated by a charming sociopath. In addition, he reveals that he knows Henry embezzled $ 300,000 from the company to help pay the man’s defense lawyers, and Barnes has all the intention to report charges.
The rest of film takes place in a prison, where Henry’s gruff but philosophical cellmate, gene (Shia Labeouf), trying to teach him the paths of the world. Henry still sees embezzlement as a noble deed, but the gene is sure that only one bud would go out on a limb for someone else without getting anything in return. He encourages Henry to be more aggressive in life, regardless of cost. Henry eventually follows in the form of actions that must remain unpleasant, as it is quite easy to destroy a movie with only four scenes.
For a character whose actions set so many consequences in motion, Henry is remarkably passive. The kind of empty suit that, as Shiv Roy so memorably puts it, will always suck the biggest cock in the room, his only feature in life is to make himself useful for a strong man before jumping the ship to another when he inevitably throws aside. Both Mr. Barnes and Gene expose him to bark about how he needs to stand up for himself when other people manipulate him, but he is never smart enough to see that they simply divert attention from their own systems to distribute him for their personal benefits.
A prominent Trump supporter whose stated views have overshadowed his work over the past decade, the mother presents a rather condemning prosecution of weakness in our society that has a broad quay of interpretations depending on where your own opinions fall. In one sentence, Henry is the kind of worthless man who creates difficult times with his own passivity. Almost all the film’s tragedy could be avoided if he could only grow a backbone for five seconds and resist a bully. I am sure there is someone who would make a childhood spent to replace seed oils with beef peeks and say slur in school could have fixed everything, but the mother’s mercury never goes there. If anything, the selfish voices in Henry’s ears are closer to Maga Gifter that sells male vitality supplements on the most difficult podcast you’ve ever heard. His own lack of a sense of I create a vacuum that is immediately filled by disgusting actors who are keen to sell him an illusion of masculinity that hides the fact that he is completely under his thumbs.
Many critics have paid tribute to “Henry Johnson” as the mother’s best game in several years. And although I have not taken in a stage production, I see no reason not to agree with the praise (how weak). But theater and film are very different media, and Mamet’s film is not trying to adapt her work for a new visual language. The film is not surprisingly managed for a week, and the only words added to the shooting script may have been “fade in” and “fade out.”
Mamet’s loyal characters have always been most at home on stage because there is no reason to expect them to do anything other than talk. Even the most realistic sink dramas ever arranged is not true “realism”, as there is always the inherent absurdity to look at living actors whose whole world is limited to a small scene. The mother never exploits the film’s ability to offer a more naturalistic depiction of human life, and to look at two men chewing landscapes for 20 uninterrupted minutes in an office seems much more silly when shot in high definition. There is also no reason for so much of the action to take place outside the screen. The approach worked for Sophocles (and probably for the stage productions of “Henry Johnson” too), but what comes over as smart in one format simply seems lazy in another.
“Henry Johnson” offers the Mamet fans reason to believe that the playwright still has more to offer us than starry “Glengarry Glenn Ross” recordings and Fox News -screeds, and the little ensemble role does all the convincing work of the material. But as a movie, the mother’s adaptation should leave you a little more than a desire to see the piece.
Rating: C+
“Henry Johnson” opens at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles and will be available at VOD on Friday 9 May, with more theater markets added to the whole of May.
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