Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda has become a hallowed name in world cinema, thanks to striking family dramas like 2018’s Shoplifters. After making his last two films, The Truth and Broker, in other countries, he returns to his homeland for emotional mystery Monster.
Sakura Andō stars as Saori Mugino, a single mother concerned that her son Minato (Sōya Kurokawa) is being harshly treated by his teacher Michitoshi (Eita Nagayama). The teacher is fired, but insists he was protecting another student from Minato’s bullying. Through flashbacks from three perspectives, the truth slowly reveals itself.
Kore-eda takes a structure that, at first, looks to employ The Rashomon Effect (the same event told from several perspectives), but instead becomes an evolving mystery with surprising emotional intelligence. Instead of making moral judgements, the film follows its characters to understand their point of view, and unveils something beautifully innocent in the third act. Instead of a stern, cautionary tale about the safety of children, the film’s message encourages us to look beneath the surface, instead of rushing to conclusions. The flashbacks can take some adjusting to, but the payoff is worth the work.
This ethical maze is navigated with subtlety by the lead actors, who don’t need to resort to histrionics to get their point across. Both Kurokawa and Nagayama’s performances show people with the best intentions, who are acting from concern, prejudice, or both. The younger actors also handle the heavier scenes remarkably well, echoing the tenderness of their elder co-stars.
The film isn’t quite as devastating as Shoplifters, but that film would be a high point that any director would struggle to replicate. Instead, Monster takes a story that might have been formulaic in another filmmaker’s hands, and makes it feel human.