By Matthew Moorcroft

Highest Recommendation

• Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
• Starring Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi
• PG-13

Last year, I reviewed the film Broker, a film that I found to be very good if a little undercooked in terms of it’s thematic meat. While Kore-eda is a beloved filmmaker and I don’t doubt his strong reputation among critics, Broker, while definitely worth watching, didn’t leave me wowed and I mostly put Kore-eda by the wayside, one day hoping to get to his filmography at a later date.

Monster is the exact opposite of that. Monster left me completely and utterly floored throughout it’s runtime; this is an emotionally intelligent, empathetic film that demands you reconsider even the smallest of first impressions on a person. Kore-eda’s naturally gentle direction, something that has become clear to me from the things I have seen from him, gives his characters a warmth they otherwise wouldn’t have. There is beauty even in the most unexpected of people and places, you just have to look for it.

But what’s really special about Monster, beyond Kore-eda’s inclinations bleeding through, is Yuji Sakamoto’s script. The unique three-act setup, which is best left unspoiled for those who aren’t in the know, changes your perception of the film’s intention three times over, an impressive feat. Sakamoto weaves together numerous amounts of Chevkov’s guns, foreshadowing, and red herrings to the point where it almost plays out like a mystery. The script’s final crescendo, which sees all of it’s intricate moving parts coming together, feels like the ending to a great novel; a barrage of emotional gut punches that build and build on each other until a final image that’s unforgettable and gutting in good measure.

Two great child performances aside (Soya Kurokawa is the big standout here in terms of that), the rest of the cast is unbelievably great, having to balance playing the same character in a multitude of different ways. In some ways, the character could be an antagonist figure, placed against the more heroic figures of the story. But in others, they are simply tragic victims of circumstance. Or some cases, they themselves are the hero of their own narrative. Monster‘s title immediately makes you wonder who the monster of said story is but ultimately it comes down to perspective – the real monster is the eye of the beholder, the judgmental nature of society the bleeds into us subconsciously.

It’s hard to ignore Kore-eda’s general craft on display as well. Between this and Broker, he has demonstrated a strong, uncanny ability for framing, blocking, and just general scene building. Characters standing over each other, sitting down, or even just moving from place to place feels purposeful. It’s all in service of the greater narrative; an early scene involving a tense discussion between a parent and principal is a highlight early on that demonstrates this so well you would almost expect the entire movie to be this same level of intense.

But it isn’t, and for the better. Instead of leaving Monster tense, you leave it overwhelmed, left a sobbing pile on the ground with nothing to show for it but a heart aching for the kids who can’t show their true selves. Monster‘s true beauty, and ultimately why it’s a hearty, high recommendation, is it’s truths about both the beauty and sadness of life. It’s doesn’t sugarcoat but it doesn’t overdramatize either, instead showing like it is. A return to form for Kore-eda and one of the best films of the year, bar none.