Monster is the latest film from legendary Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda, the filmmaker behind Shoplifters, The Broker, and The Third Murder in recent years. He’s a director who has made films about fascinating subject matters. He puts a thought-provoking angle on them. In this film, he examines the perception of how one event is depicted by different people in different ways. An interconnected story with multiple permutations. 

Minato Mugino (Soya Kurokawa) is a weird and awkward boy. He lives with his single mother Saori (Sakura Ando). They have a very good mother-son relationship. One day when he comes home from school crying he says his teacher struck him. His mother goes down to the school to complain. The teacher in question Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama) is brought to the to see what he has to say about the incident in question and he says he brushed up against the child but he was bullying another boy Yori (Hinata Hiragi). This is where the story transitions to a multiple interconnected story with different points of view.

Kore-eda chose to separate this story into three parts differentiated by four main characters. The mother of the little boy, the teacher in the school, the principal of the school, and the little boy himself. From these perspectives, the entire story unfolds. This is similar to films like the 2004 Best Picture Winner Crash and other films like Babel and so forth. Interconnected stories have been all the rage ever since Pulp Fiction but Crash made them much more accessible to the viewers watching. This story is very accessible. 

The writing by Yujo Sakamoto is the strength of this film along with the acting and direction. Getting all the plot threads correct and getting the characters to say the right things at the right time for the progression of the story was the key to making this movie work so well. It worked on a level I had not anticipated before starting to watch it. The writer weaves together these characters’ stories perfectly.  This is one of the best scripts I’ve seen all year. 

The acting is a big key in this film as well. The characters have to all play their parts very well or the cat will be out of the bag as far as what is really going on in this movie. The kids and adults alike all deserve a round of applause for their great work here. If they give away their performances in the slightest the whole film will be ruined.  That’s how believable these actors are in their roles. Add in a little editing and you have a well-crafted and acted movie. 

Everything that happened in this film, technical or otherwise, is owed to the masterful direction by Kore-eda. He combines so many elements together to make a masterpiece of filmmaking. It’s a character study of how one inciting event can have multiple sides to it. And everything comes together masterfully by the director and screenwriter. Films like this have rarely been done on this level before. That’s why Kore-eda is considered one of the best auteurs in filmmaking today. I was blown away by what I saw unfold on screen.

I have to say a he said, she said scenario can go off of the rails if it’s not done with complete precision.  Even though this is a he said, he said incident it still resonates with me a lot. I’ve been in a similar situation as this and it’s not fun. Having someone accuse you of doing something wrong when you didn’t isn’t a fun circumstance to be in. I’m not saying kids aren’t trustworthy but they can be a bit misleading due to their age and maturity. In this day and age though you can be too underprotective when it comes to kids.  Schools and administrators have to watch out for themselves as well with everybody wanting to sue. 

At the heart of this film is a wonderful relationship that transcends everything. As a parent or teacher, you never know what’s truly going through a kid’s mind. In this film, there are two kids at its center to some extent and they are not your average children. They have issues but refuse to talk about their issues with anybody. Kids tend to stick together and how that comes about in this story is amazing. I had a very good relationship with my brother as a child and it was similar to the friendship at the center of this story. Kore-eda made sure it was a very important element in the overall construction of the film. It was incredibly done.

Monster takes similar themes and techniques filmgoers have seen before but uses them in a distinctly different way. The script is perfect. The actors deliver the dialogue perfectly as well and Kore-eda directs them to perfection. This is one of the best films of the year and film audiences should seek it out. I am so happy with the outcome of this movie. It made me feel something good which is what I’m always looking for in a film I see. Kore-eda has made another great film. There is no other way to say it. 

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen