EntertainmentMoviesThriller MoviesA new Japanese thriller with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is a quietly searing depiction of childhoodWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentMoviesThriller MoviesA new Japanese thriller with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is a quietly searing depiction of childhoodWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Picturehouse Entertainment)
What does it mean to be a monster? There are several kinds of monsters in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, or, more accurately, several kinds of monstrous feelings.
Set in an anonymous town in rural Japan, Monster opens with widowed single mother Saori (Sakura Andō) who’s worried about her son Minato (Sōya Kurokawa) after he starts behaving strangely: he comes home from elementary school with a bloody ear, disappears in the night, and jumps out of a moving car. When he blames his teacher, Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), Saori storms into the school and demands apologies and dismissals, but the truth isn’t quite as simple as it first appears and the key to decoding Minato’s behavior appears to be Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), a bullied outsider in his class who forms a bond with Minato.
Big Screen SpotlightShining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Big Screen Spotlight
Shining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Shining a light on the under-the-radar theatrical releases that you need to know about, with a new article every Friday
Monster employs a Rashomon-style narrative: the first act of the film is from Saori’s point of view, then the second shifts to teacher Mr. Hori, and, finally, we switch to Minato’s, and the disjointed events we’ve seen so far finally click into place. It’s not a narrative device you might expect from a drama about young children, and the script’s ingenuity and screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto won Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival when the film premiered last year.
Emotional debris
(Image credit: Picturehouse Entertainment)
Going hand-in-hand with its depictions of juvenile cruelty is the way Monster captures the raw and unbearable overwhelm of childhood emotion. Nothing makes sense when you’re 10 years old, and the film’s narrative structure reflects that. Minato struggles to process how he feels about Yori and has no way of expressing them; there’s nowhere for them to go. Internalization breeds shame, which mutates into anger and fear. It’s visceral, but silent – Minato doesn’t raise his voice and there’s no shouting, screaming, or arguing with his mother but his unhappiness and unpredictability still hurts her as much as any fight. His accusations against Hori seep into the teacher’s personal life, too, creating ruptures in his relationship with his partner. Minato’s choices ricochet off other people, leaving emotional debris in their wake.
Big Screen Spotlight(Image credit: Focus Features)The Haunting of Hill House star’s hilarious performance in horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein proves she’s so much more than a scream queen
Big Screen Spotlight
(Image credit: Focus Features)The Haunting of Hill House star’s hilarious performance in horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein proves she’s so much more than a scream queen
(Image credit: Focus Features)
The Haunting of Hill House star’s hilarious performance in horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein proves she’s so much more than a scream queen
Fires, typhoons, and mudslides seem easy to understand compared to kids' emotions, feelings that come fully formed but without the self-awareness or language to process them. Both natural disasters and children’s behavior are unpredictable, but only one of them makes sense in the world we live in.
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Monster arrives in UK cinemas on March 15. For more on what else you should be watching at the cinema, be sure to check out the rest of ourBig Screen Spotlight series.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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4
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5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”