When a young boy begins behaving strangely, shocking truths emerge as the story unfolds through the eyes of his single mother, a teacher who is believed to be responsible, and the child himself.
Valy Lungoccia Tatsuya Shimada Tomasz Dyrduła Kamil Kryński Ryota Hamaguchi Takuma Tsuboi Mayu Yamashita
かいぶつ, Kaibutsu, Canavar, Monstro, Monster - vaarallinen leikki, L'innocence, Το τέρας, Szörnyeteg, Monstruo, Монстр, Quái Vật, Culpado - Inocente - Monstro, מפלצת, L'innocenza, La inocencia, 괴물, Netvor, มอนสเตอร์, תמימות, هیولا, MONSTER - 2023, Το Τέρας, Pošast, Die Unschuld, Monstras, Monstre, Чудовище, Čudovište, Monstrs
France
Cannes Film Festival
Czechia
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Australia
Melbourne International Film Festival
UK
BFI London Film Festival
Poland
Kids Kino International Film Festival
South Korea12
Busan International Film Festival
Brazil
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
USA
Chicago International Film Festival
India
Jio MAMI Film Festival
USA
Austin Film Festival
Australia
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Indonesia
Jakarta World Cinema Week
Indonesia
Japanese Film Festival
Indonesia
Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival
Lithuania
LNOBT
Poland
International Film Festival ZOOM – ZBLIŻENIA
USA
Milwaukee Film Festival
USAPG-13
Argentina
USAPG-13
JapanG
Hong KongIIA
SingaporeM18
Taiwan0+
ThailandG
Spain
PhilippinesPG
South Korea12
Brazil12
MexicoB
Sweden7
FranceTP
Indonesia
Netherlands9
UK12A
Germany12
LithuaniaN-13
Poland
Italy
Israel14
Hungary16
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto RicoPG-13
US Virgin IslandsPG-13
USAPG-13
Brazil14
Ireland12
USA
Japan
Brazil12
American Samoa
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Czechia
France
Germany
Guam
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Lithuania
Mexico
Netherlands
Northern Mariana Islands
Philippines
Poland
Puerto Rico
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
Thailand
UK
US Virgin Islands
USA
“our poop will go back in our butts”
Best Screenplay Winner at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
"Who's the monster?"
Is it the kids who think they're monsters because the world hinders them from accepting and understanding themselves? Or is it the world that makes them think that way? A word is without meaning unless we give one to it. If we instill a hurtful meaning into a kid's mind, it affects how they see the world and how they see themselves.
Children must be protected, and not be neglected. Not everyone can be a parent, but every kid needs someone who genuinely cares for them. Sometimes, we lie not to hurt others but to hide the truth so we can avoid being misunderstood and judged. Lies can be a product of fear of not being accepted. The world may be fucked up in some ways, but who are we to deprive people, especially kids, of happiness?
"If only some people can have it, that's not happiness. That's just nonsense. Happiness is something anyone can have."
For the first two sections of this film, I was a ball of tension, searching for the puzzle piece to unlock what was happening. And assuming the worst. I should’ve know that Kore-eda doesn’t go for the shock. Instead, as with the other two films of his that I have seen and love, he reminds us that it’s our connections that make us human, make us happy, make life worth it.
By using multiple perspectives, the film makes clear that we can never know everything about the people we encounter in life. But, when we assume the worst, there can be devastating results.
By the third act, I started crying and didn’t stop. This film is tender in its beauty and sorrow and I’ll carry that with me.
this made me cry so, so much. sometimes at the subtle brutality of what we’re asked to endure alongside these boys, and other times merely at the simple beauties of such a meaningful and deeply felt - yet simultaneously socially dangerous - “friendship.” rarely have i seen a film with a script so clearly inspired by rashomon that actually does its inspiration justice, but monster is not only that - it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as kurosawa’s classic. as profound as it is painful, always successfully contrasting the inescapable cruelty of society with the pockets of compassion that still survive in this wicked world, against all odds. a monumental work, and at first blush, maybe a masterpiece as well.
Scary as it sounds, “monster” can be such a strangely comforting word. Not only does classifying someone as inhuman absolve us from acknowledging the most difficult aspects of our shared humanity, it also reaffirms the smallness and simplicity of an infinitely complex universe that continues to expand no matter how much we might want to wrap our arms around it. “Monster” is a period at the end of a sentence; it’s the permission we give ourselves to demonize whatever we don’t understand.
And, for all of those reasons, it’s also a very unexpected title for a new feature by the great Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose achingly humanistic stories of families lost and found (e.g. “Shoplifters,” “Still Walking,” “After the Storm”) have…
