‘Monster’ Review: Kore-eda Hirokazu Hides Surprise Plea for Acceptance Beneath Much Darker Themes

  • 📰 Variety
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 48 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 22%
  • Publisher: 63%

Entertainment Entertainment Headlines News

Entertainment Entertainment Latest News,Entertainment Entertainment Headlines

In film after film, from “Nobody Knows” to “Shoplifters,” Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu has proven himself to be among the medium’s most humanistic directors, inclined to see the best in people…

Returning to his native Japan after helming two relatively disappointing features abroad , the 2018 Palme d’Or winner opens his latest Cannes competition entry with a building on fire — a “hostess bar” where lonely men seek female company — and fifth-grade Minato watching the inferno from a nearby balcony. Kore-eda will return to this scene three times over the course of the film, folding the narrative back upon itself from a different angle each time, before finally revealing who set the blaze.

When the explanation for Minato’s behavior finally does emerge, it comes from left field, but pulls so many of the movie’s other mysteries together … except for one: Why would Kore-eda choose such a convoluted way of telling this particular story? By sharing only select pieces of each character’s private life, he all but obliges us to leap to incorrect conclusions, distracting with topics such as bullying, aggression and suicide when the real subject — how children are socialized, and the...

When Saori finally realizes something’s wrong, she calls a meeting with the school principal . Believing Minato’s claim that Mr. Hori is responsible for the way he feels, Saori demands to know what kind of school lets a teacher insult and hit the students. As the slight wisps of one of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s last compositions underscores her concern, Saori’s heart breaks a little to hear her son say, “My brain was switched with a pig’s.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 108. in ENTERTAİNMENT

Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

‘Monster’ Review: Kore-Eda Hirokazu’s Latest Is Powerful ‘Rashomon’-Style Human Drama – Cannes Film FestivalJapan’s most prolific and successful contemporary filmmaker, Kore-Eda Hirokazu is back in a favorite place, Cannes, for the unveiling of his latest effort, a return to his Japanese storytelli…
Source: DEADLINE - 🏆 109. / 63 Read more »

‘Monster’ Review: Hirokazu Kore-eda Measures the Weight of Bullying on Childhood Friendship in Tender But Diffuse DramaThe director’s first film made in Japan since his 2018 Palme d’Or-winning ‘Shoplifters’ applies the Rashomon effect to a story of fractured families and boys seeking connection.
Source: THR - 🏆 411. / 53 Read more »

Hirokazu Kore-Eda On Working With Late Composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Reteaming With ‘Shoplifters’ actress Sakura Ando On Cannes Title ‘Monster’Hirokazu Kore-Eda is back in Cannes Competition after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 and last year presenting Korean-language Broker, which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. His new …
Source: DEADLINE - 🏆 109. / 63 Read more »