Monster

Young Minato starts to behave very strangely. He insists that he is a monster; that his brain was switched with a pig’s, and he also bears physical injuries. His concerned mother, Saori, discovers that a teacher, Hori, is responsible for her son’s distress and storms into the school demanding the truth and that the teacher be disciplined. All she gets in response are robotic apologies and the claim that it has all been a “misunderstanding”. As the battle between mother and school intensifies, Kore-eda deftly switches perspectives, and everything Saori thinks she knows comes into question. Kore-eda, a brilliant director of children as in Nobody Knows, draws nuanced performances from the child actors here, who are sometimes vulnerable and sweet and at other times terrifying. As the intricate details are gradually revealed, and Kore-eda X-rays these characters and community, Monster keeps you on the edge of your seat, weaving a provocative and mesmerising contemporary tale.

Kore-eda Hirokazu’s directorial debut, Maborosi (SFF 1996), won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Osella. Other films include: After Life (SFF 1999), Distance (2001); Nobody Knows (2004), Hana (SFF 2007); Still Walking (SFF 2009); Air Doll (2009); I Wish (2011); Like Father Like Son (2013); Our Little Sister (SFF 2015); After the Storm (2016); Shoplifters (SFF 2018) and Broker (SFF 2022).