Kaibutsu (2023)

Growing Pains. Worlds that cannot be reconciled. Standards that cannot be met.

This film has my heart. The narrative moves with a tone as fragile as lies, as delicate as first love, as fleeting as childhood. It also carries a heaviness that cannot be understated; a cold salty somberness that punches straight through you.

“If you have forgotten how to be a child you cannot teach children.” - Austin O'Malley

Though this is not a movie about adults forgetting to be childlike, but rather adults forgetting what it is like to live in the world of a child. Children make law out of adult’s black and white teachings. They know what’s wrong but they don’t know why. They know what’s right, but they don’t know how. That’s why what's rational for an adult and what’s rational for a child will never be the same. This movie is set in that gap. The space between adult and child. Despite this, this is in no way a story about teenagers or the bridge between these two worlds; in fact, the stark distinction between the methodologies of adults and children is a key feature of the film.

Can we judge the grown-ups from seeing things from within the established societal standards? I am adult enough to know that the conclusions they reached aren’t far from what I would have guessed.

Can we judge the children for lashing out when they aren’t able to articulate themselves within these standards? Can we blame a child for deviating from an expected emotional reaction? I am child enough to understand what it feels like to stumble through the dichotomy of these two worlds.

This film holds so much wisdom. Behind all of the lies, stands universal truths. There is no love perfect enough to protect the ones we love against the evils of the world. There is no evil terrible enough to conceal the glimpses of good. There is no standard that can perfectly be met. There is no monster. There is right and wrong and in between. And cats and pigs and happiness.

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Societal critic supported by a strong cast and impressive storytelling: very deep and impactful!

A beautiful movie very impactful and that made a deep impression on me upon watching. The scenario is one of the strong point of the movie: it almost felt like a theatre play in several acts. Every question find an answer, every element showcased at one point of the script has an importance for the rest of the story... The film approaches some very important societal topics and provide a sound critic of Japanese society without being preachy and with a lot of subtlety.

The cast is really great: the characters are multi-faceted and the actors and actresses manage to provide plenty of nuances to their roles. There are a lot of angsty and emotional moments that are played with expertise for the adults parts and candor for the children parts.

The production value is good, I loved some of the decors as well as the editing which really enhanced the various storylines intertwined with each other. The soundtrack was not overly present but there are some critical scenes involving music with a very interesting set up.

I would strongly recommend this movie to people looking for a film providing a critic of Japanese society, discussing important topics and very well acted. The ending made a very strong impression on me...I will not spoil it but the message behind it really moved me deeply. There are some triggering aspects to the movie but it is not too graphic, a lot happens in subtext and is understood as the story unfolds itself. If you are looking for some fluff or slice-of-life movie, it is not the film for you. But if you are ready for some great and poignant storytelling, give it a shot!

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Who is the real monster here?

Jan. 20 2024

I have dont have the exact words to say but this is absolutely a stunning piece of literature. I love every single bits of it. Prepare your tissues cause you are gonna need it a lot. The emotional rollercoaster I had to face. The scenes of the two leads and their innocence. How cruelty of this world is the real monster and not those who love others in a way that is not the "norm". The feeling of disappointment and feeling outcasted. Wishing to just be normal so you can find love. Disappointing your loved ones because they cannot accept for who you are. Wishing to live in a world where you feel accepted and love. To not be hated by society and be frown upon.

Monster 2023 movie explains this well. Strong signs of symbolism are present in the movie. The ending is open for your interpretation. And for me, it is that they are free. Free to live. Free to choose. Free to be themselves.

It is truly agonizing to realize how many people are basically experiencing this themselves. I hope everyone receives that happy ending we all deserve. Even though, life is cruel and unfair.

The amount of tears I produced was insane.

I hope everyone gives Monster the love that it deserves !

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Un jour, je marierai un ange

Kore-Eda fait un peu partie de la famille. C'est l'oncle qui nous rend visite chaque année, pour le festival de Cannes, le temps de recevoir son prix, faire visiter un bout de "La France" à ces acteurs émerveiller et puis s'en va. Comme tout oncle en visite éclaire, il nous rabâche toujours la même vielle histoire. La famille, éclatée, décomposée, recomposée, monoparentale… Celle qui est au banc d'une société japonaise fantasmée par les occidentaux. Mais il faut l'avouer, personne ne sait aussi bien le faire que lui. Ce cercle familial, micro société remplie de la même violence que la grande. Miroir du monde ou la tolérance n'est que de façade. Le microcosme familial comme les communautés se referment sur elles-mêmes, regarde leur nombril et rentre toujours en résonance avec cette société insulaire et repliée sur le passé et sur eux-mêmes.

Vous ne serez pas surpris par l'histoire de Kaibutsu, mais par sa construction qui mérite amplement le prix du scénario, Cannes n'ayant pas de prix de la mise en scène. La construction est faite au couteau et vous tiendra en haleine les 2h du film. En adoptant le point de vue des trois personnages principaux à la suite, mais surtout en respectant la chronologie des évènements qui permet de reconstruire toute l'histoire. On mène l'enquête de manière chirurgicale, et tout se dévoile dans les dernières minutes. Kore-eda dénonce une fois de plus les travers de son pays, la difficile place des minorités et de la différence au sein d'une société ultra-conformiste. Mais clairement, l'occident de 2023 ne peut blâmer un Japon déjà très occidentalisé. Le monde régresse partout. Les minorités, les femmes, la différence sont attaqués de manières insidieuses et le mot tolérance a disparu des discours politiques. Le réalisateur a encore du travail. Kaibutsu-Monster-L'innocense ne sera pas son dernier film, qui mettra en lumière les mères célibataires, les travailleurs de l'humain ou la misère de son pays, mais la mise en scène et l'interprétation sont ici magnifiées. La Palme d'or ou celle du meilleur acteur ou actrice aurait pu être décerné à ce film. Et si la musique en avait une, le regretté Sakamoto Ryuichi en aurait bénéficié. Celle-ci accompagne discrètement, mais magistralement, les émotions distillées par Endo Sakura, Nagayama Eita et les deux jeunes prodiges que sont Kurokawa Souya et Hiiragi Hinata. En mère de famille combative, Endo Sakura sublime son jeu, alors qu'une empathie particulière accompagne ce professeur désenchanté interprèté par l'excellent Nagayama. Mais personne n'est parfait. La mise en scène permet de montrer les ravage de la rumeur, la facilité d'acceptation de celle-ci par des personnages pourtant présentés comme parfaits. La part sombre de chacun est dévoilé, nous remettant tous en question.

Et pourtant, les décors sont bucoliques ou urbains, mais empreints de nostalgie, voir faisant référence au paradis perdu, ce qui permet de parler encore plus à notre petit cœur innocent d'enfant. Les effets notamment de météo sont impressionnants de réalisme pour un film d'auteur. Mais clairement, c'est grâce au jeu de ses acteurs qu'on plonge dans un réalisme dérangeant, mais fascinant. Il montre toute la pourriture d'un système gangrené par le "pas de vague", "on n'y peut rien" et la culture de l'excuse… dommage que les personnages de la trop discrète Takahata Mitsuki ou du "fumier" Nakamura Shido ne sont pas aussi exploités que l'excellente directrice Tanaka Yuuko. Elle incarne tellement cette culture de l'institution avant l'humain que le Japon met en avant et que Endo Sakura tente de combattre. C'est certainement ce que les occidentaux retiendront le plus de ce film et c'est dommage, car la violence du silence, de l'intolérance, du mépris ou de l'indifférence n'est pas culturelle. Elle est mondiale. C'est le combat des castes, et ce film, empreint de philosophie sur l'innocence de l'enfance, la vie, la mort, vous arrachera probablement le cœur avec sa fin ouverte. Moi, il me fait croire dans la réincarnation. Et si celle-ci existe, dans tous les cas, c'est en Kore-Eda que je veux revenir sur terre, car ma vie rêvée, c'est celle de diriger tous ces fabuleux acteurs, pour faire des films aussi universels et humains.

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A Mother's Struggle For Her Son

“Monster” is an intriguing movie, told from the perspectives of 3 individuals, a single mother who is overprotective of her son and wants justice for him, a well-meaning teacher who finds himself in the middle of an almost impossible situation in which he is falsely accused of hitting a child, and a young boy who is coming to terms with himself and his feelings for a friend. Although not quite the psychological thriller one would expect, “Monster” does a great job in shifting our perspective, in as much as we are constantly being asked “who is the monster?”, while viewing the movie. We are not looking for a monster, but rather seeing victims of circumstances that we empathize with throughout the film and the question of who the monster is becomes the furthest from the audience’s concerns.

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/04/03/monster-movie-review/

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So, who is the monster?

I actually watched this about 2 weeks ago, but I guess I just wanted to recollect my thoughts about this film before I could write the review because... woah, this was so interesting. Mesmerising. It made me think a LOT.

How this film unfolded the mystery through each character's perspective was so smart, and so well done. I just couldn't tell what was going on or what the main plot was at all, until it switched to Minato's perspective. At the beginning, we saw a single mother be just as confused as us viewers were-- what was her son doing? Why was he acting like that? What was going on with him? We felt her confusion, pain, struggle and then just as she was convinced that the teacher was the perpetrator, we were fully convinced too. If I were to speak further than her perspective, I'd be spoiling heavily because after that, everything blew my mind away. Nothing she thought were true. Frankly, I've never seen anything else quite like how this film is told.

The acting from all actors alike was brilliant. Passionate. I will never get how child actors can be such good actors at such a young age. They literally did just as well as the adult actors on the film, and to be this much talented already gives me the chills because wth am I doing with my life 😂

Amazing film. It's the kind of movie you can't help but hold your breath in for the entire 2-hour runtime-- even if you feel like your head might explode at some point.

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The World is The True Monster

If there was one movie that I could choose to erase from my memory so that I could experience watching it for the first time again, it would be Monster. The way this movie told the story from different perspectives that would change our views and opinions was so smart and made the movie move so quickly. I was surprised by the acting, especially by Kurokawa Souya (Mugino Minato) considering his age, he perfectly portrayed the confusing feelings his character was going through. There was a specific point in the movie where I just started sobbing when I had this moment where I went "these characters are so young but already have to worry about what the world thinks of them," and didn't stop crying until the end. I am a pretty emotional person but nothing has had this much of an effect on me. Just a perfect movie.

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Just Beautiful

This is going to be a rant while simultaneously convincing you to watch this beautiful movie.
The movie at first is seemingly about a young boy named Minato who is being “bullied” by his homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher is convinced the boy Minato is bullying his classmate Yori. We come to see different perspectives on different situations throughout the movie that truly just make your heart ache.
This movie is not only outstanding with the cinematography and breathtaking acting but the overall ending to the story.
At first you’re left with an “open-ended” feeling being to what was such a beautiful movie but to me there was nothing open ended about it.
To me the ending symbolized the end of suffering for both Minato and Yori for just being who they were as humans.
This movie does a great job at showing the subtle behavior of someone who is questioning their sexuality at such a young age.
I saw many people say they haven't watched it yet because “they’re children” and were afraid that this movie was grooming them.
First, if you’re worried about them being “groomed” then congratulations because you are part of the problem in the world with such negative lighting towards the queer community. What does it matter how old they are? If you think people don’t already know or experience their queerness before becoming an “adult” then maybe you should seek out more queer stories from the queer community.
People who clearly think other wise only watch queer films to further fetishize the gay community.
Overall I just can’t simply talk about how beautiful this movie was and will still be years to come.
You should watch it because it’s a 10/10.

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The acting!!!

This Drama is so well acted, it blew me away! Probably one of the best I’ve seen. The story/plot is a bit confusing at times. It’s the kind of drama that goes back and forth between current life and past life to build the story. It gives each character involved their point of view on the subject at hand. It is frustrating at times, but only because you want the truth to come out for everyone involved. This is a well written, directed, produced, and especially acted Drama. The child actors have a bright acting future ahead of them! I will absolutely watch this again. I’m sure when I do, I will pick up on things I missed the first time around. I especially liked the ending. When you watch it, you’ll know what I mean. I finished this Drama days ago, but it is still in my head. It’s that kind of Drama. I’m sure all you Drama lovers will know what I mean by that. Some stay with you, and some don’t.

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"If only some people can have it, that's not happiness. That's just nonsense."

How could a movie went from basic and boring mystery, into a heartwarming yet gut-wrenching coming-of-age story? 😭

As bits by bits of the mystery gets unfolded through the lens of others, nothing is even more surprising than the third reenactment of the story, where we can finally get to know the truth, the full truth of all the mystery. The last few scenes were unapologetically gut-wrenching and saddening, and also was a typical "up to your interpretations" thing, but this film just made the perfect ending that let me crying at the final scene.

Let me be clear: some people on the internet have complained and trying to reclaim this is a friendship story, rather than a queer coming-of-age story. But I see it differently, your queer friends will see it differently, and thankfully a lot of you–cinephiles–see it differently. Maybe you should check your (queer) friends and I hope they will buy some time to tell you something different that I'd bet you never have to endure. It takes Monster to let us think again who's the true monster of it all.

P.s.: musical composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto feels like his final gift to us, rest in love.

Best Screenplay at 76th Cannes Film Festival (2023)

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