Monster
2023 · Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Original language: Japanese
- mystery
- thriller
- drama
The story
After an outburst at school involving her son, a concerned single mother demands answers, triggering a sequence of deepening suspicion and turmoil.
What it’s like
Monster is the 2023 Hirokazu Kore-eda film, and it is written in layers: the same small Japanese town and school are seen three times, each time through a different adult's eyes, so the camera keeps circling back to familiar corridors, cramped apartments and rain-streaked windows in muted, slightly washed-out colour. Kore-eda's handheld camera stays close to faces, lingers on hallways in flat daylight and the blue-grey dusk of a provincial city, and the sound is mostly ambient: rain on roofs, distant school bells, a restrained, melancholy piano score that appears sparingly. Its vibe is quietly unsettling and tender, a slow mystery that turns into an ache about childhood, shame and friendship, best watched in a focused evening rather than as background. The pacing is patient, the emotional register grief-tinged and gentle rather than sensational, and the arc of its two boys is about two small, bruised kids finding each other while the adults around them misread what they see. Intensity is moderate: bullying, a fire and a few tense confrontations, with the cruelty mostly verbal and implied, no gore, and dread that builds through silence and misunderstanding. It suits viewers who want a thoughtful, emotionally serious drama about childhood, empathy and the stories grown-ups tell themselves.
More films like Monster
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Monsterand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
