Monster

INT. COOKIE MONSTER – NIGHT

Monster is the latest entry in the Kore-eda filmography (a filmography I still need to dive deeper into). Still, just like his previous films, It's a deeply personal look into a character, their motives but most importantly, how that motive affects those around them.

Monster is a multi-layered beast; it retells one story from multiple perspectives giving us the whole cookie instead of just the crumbs. Usually, I'm a crumb kinda guy; I like to figure things out myself, putting them all together to get my cookie. Still, Kore-eda gives me the cookie; at points,...

The perspective from which we view a situation infallibly provides us with a clear, irrefutable picture of its truthfulness, right? But what happens if we encounter someone who witnesses the same incident and comes away from it with a totally different interpretation? Both views can’t be “right,” can they? Or is it possible that none of us can see the totality of a scenario and claim to know everything about it? That’s the core takeaway from director Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest feature, an ambitious, skillfully crafted tale told from multiple vantage points, all of them “correct” ...

I'm not usually a fan of children leading films, but hats have to come off here for a really delightful performance from the young Hinata Hiiragi as the shy and shunned "Hoshikawa". We will get to him in a minute, but first the film is delivered in three parts as a fire slowly devours a city centre tower block. The first episode introduces us to "Minato" (Soya Kurukawa). He's a bright and friendly boy who lives with his widowed mother (Sakura Ando). She starts to notice that his behaviour is a becoming a bit erratic and after some investigation begins to suspect that he is being bullied at sch...

This film is the highest compliment to Kurasawa's Rashoman I've ever seen. Others have tried the (perhaps bonsai rule-of-three inspired) triple-POV, but I've always just witnessed a "yeah, so what." But this film - Kore-Eda's vision? Kurasawa himself would stand up and bow. It takes the master's style to a completely new level.

Yuji Sakamoto and Kore-Eda have created the perfect film here. It's tight, it's paced incredibly well, and it's complex and layered like a fine wine. Kore-Eda threw away the book of film directing, and created two hours of in-your-face, up front and personal story-te...

Horrorifically Suspenseful Thriller...

What a Heinous opening act, such an Evil act off the bat, which can only mean the possibility of more Ferocious acts later. Our main characters are quite young, and they're easy prey for those who would do wrong to young people. The Suspense is ramping up, and 1 of our characters is proving to be rather Brave and possibly beyond Desperate at this point in the film.
Our character is proving to be Resourceful, and showing rather impressive calm in the situation at hand. Such a Horrible hand they've been dealt, and we hope that they find the strength to...