By Amanda Gilmore
Director Kore-eda Hirokazu pleas for acceptance with this powerful film about morals.
It’s hard to explain what Monster is truly about due to the hidden story within the central narrative. The most straightforward summary would be that Monster is about a young boy, Minato (Soya Kurosawa), who begins acting strange. His single mother Saori (Sakura Ando) begs to get the truth from her only son. He tells her that his teacher Mr Hori (Eita Nagayama) has been harassing him. Saori demands answers from Mr Hori and the Principal, but is Minato telling the full truth?
That overview doesn’t do the narrative the justice it deserves, because of the deeply nuanced script from Yûji Sakamoto. He’s broken down the story into three points of view. Each one tells a different part of the same central story — Minato’s behaviour drastically declines and he claims it’s due to his teacher’s harassment.
The first POV focuses on the story Minato tells his mother. We follow Saori as she demands that action be taken against Mr Hori for what he’s done to her boy. Hirokazu’s most recent Films (Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters and last year’s Broker) have revolved around the theme of family, and what constitutes a family. This first act brings out this theme again but in a different form. This time it’s a single mother, who recently lost her husband, fighting for their son. Ando delivers a commanding performance that captures the nurturing mother and the fierce mama bear that lives within.
It’s once we get to the second POV that the theme of the family begins to shed. The focus is on Mr Hori. These POV changes aren’t first person, but rather Hirokazu placing focus on that character living through the same events. In the first part, we are taking Minato’s word for it just as his mother is. Here, we are seeing behind the curtain what Mr. Hori actually did. We begin to realize there are cracks in the young boy’s story. And we’re gifted a red herring about Minato being a bully to classmate Eri (Hinata Hiiragi).
Sakamoto and Hirokazu play with the timelines of each POV and control when crucial information is revealed, keeping the audience guessing where the story will go. It isn’t until the final POV, that of Minato, that we are given the full side of the story. Like how Eri and Minato are really close friends. They spend their time outside of school with each other, playing games in an abandoned train car in the forest. They find a family with each other.
There will be some who will call this third act a twist, however, it’s really revealing Minato’s truth in a mysterious and secretive way. It mirrors the fact that Minato believes he has to lie to keep himself safe. It plays into the overarching theme of Monster which is a cry for acceptance. More importantly, the negative mental impact inflicted on those scared to live their truth due to the lack of acceptance.
Monster screens at Cannes ’23:
Wed May 17 at 7PM at GRAND THÉÂTRE LUMIÈRE
Thu May 18 at 8:30AM at GRAND THÉÂTRE LUMIÈRE
Thu May 18 at 11AM at AGNÈS VARDA THEATRE
Thu May 18 at 11:15AM at CINEUM IMAX
Thu May 18 at 9:30PM at LICORNE
Fri May 19 at 5:15PM at CINEUM AURORE
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