The Brazilian poster for the film. Kore-eda is a global figure.

At last, back into the cinema in the hallowed space of the Hebden Bridge Picture House for Monster, the latest film from one of the truly great filmmakers of our time. This one fits into the Kore-eda Hirokazu universe of films about children but structurally it’s rather different from most of the others. The setting is a small town in Central Honshu (filmed in Suwa City, Nagano). The central characters are Minato Mugino and his mother Saori. The father of the family has died. When Minato begins to act strangely, Saori is naturally concerned. One night Minato disappears and Saori finds him in a tunnel on an abandoned railway line. This will lead to a hospital visit and eventually Saito feels forced to visit the elementary school where Minato is a 5th grade (10+) student. She discovers that the principal has been on leave for personal reasons and Saori’s questions about Minato’s treatment by his class teacher are met with formal apologies, but no sense of human concern about Saori’s fears for her son. The blame appears to be pinned on the class teacher Hori. Saori is outraged by the school’s response.

Saori and Minato look out from the balcony of their flat at the townscape below

As the narrative progresses we are offered different perspectives on the same series of incidents and in the process we learn more about Minato and Hori as well as a classmate of Minato, Yori. Several reviewers refer to this as a Rashomon device. In one sense it is, in that there is a central incident in the classroom but really the other incidents refer to a series of events over time and only now do they seem to be coming to a head. Through the three perspectives we come to learn that the issue in this social melodrama is partly to do with the bureaucracy of the school and the modern obsession with ‘solving problems’ through various management techniques expressed through the administration of the school. (This is also played through the traditional forms of Japanese communication in formal gatherings.) But the real issue is the way in which bullying in school, domestic violence and forms of discrimination against, for instance, gay relationships, marginalised people attacked for not being ‘normal’ and the innocent close relationships of young boys are to be ignored on the grounds of maintaining the semblance of ‘normalcy’. These are all familiar Kore-eda concerns. Also familiar are the intrusions of natural disasters and in this case a typhoon accompanied by torrential rain is a plot element.

Mr. Hori in one of the ‘perspectives’ of his treatment of Minato in the classroom

If this film is different from most in Kore-eda’s career it might be partially assigned to the use of an external writer Sakamoto Yuji. On this occasion, Kore-eda limits himself to direction and film editing. Usually he writes his own scripts as well. In an interview Kore-eda explains that he always wanted to work with the writer but it it had been difficult to match their working schedules. This script was actually worked on over several years. The music score, which is delicate and emotional, is by the great Sakamoto Ryuichi who died a few weeks before the film’s Cannes screening in 2023 and the film is dedicated to him. He was too weak to complete a full score but Kore-eda made use of some recently released recordings to augment the two pieces written for the film. I expected that Monster would be a great film and it is. I still think that Kore-eda isn’t as well-regarded as he should be (though this film did feature as Nominee or Winner in various awards ceremonies around the world). I think part of the problem is because he makes melodramas and partly because he makes films about children in many cases. Having watched all 16 of his cinematic features, I don’t want to rank them in any way. I’ve been engaged by all of them and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Apart from Pedro Almodóvar I can’t think of another filmmaker with such a run of successful features. As in the previous films, I’m often struck by the way in which images from one of his films remind me of similar images from his earlier films. In this case, the abandoned railway tunnel took me back to Maborosi (1995). In fact there are several connections to Maborosi, Kore-eda’s stunning début fiction feature, including an important music score and a story based on a novella/short story – the only other occasion when Kore-eda didn’t originate the script idea.

The two boys playing by the railway tunnel – compare with the tunnels in Maborosi

For Monster I need to praise the cinematography of Kondo Ryuto who also worked on Shoplifters (Japan 2018). The film is presented in ‘Scope (i.e. 2.39:1) which is unusual for Kore-eda, the only other film in this wide ratio is The Third Murder (Japan 2017). Ando Sakura, who excels as Saori was also part of the family in Shoplifters, playing the mother of four children by different fathers. The two young boys are played by Kurokawa Soya as Minato and Hiiragi Hinata as Yori, both very good. They both had TV experience when cast. The other two significant roles are played by Nagayama Eita as Mr. Hori the classroom teacher and Tanaka Yuko as the school principal Mrs Fushimi. I don’t want to spoil the narrative by revealing too much about why their roles are so crucial but they both work well to present complex characters. Similarly I won’t explain the title, the meaning of which is revealed only very gradually.

The boys have fun – wet and muddy but exuberant

The audience I watched the film with seemed rapt but I do wonder about the many layers of this narrative. I will have to watch it again to fully appreciate how beautifully it is written and performed. Early in the film we see Minato and his mother before the small family shrine in their flat, honouring his father’s birthday. The boy starts questioning his mother about re-incarnation and what form his father might be taking now. The idea of being ‘reborn’ will run through the film. Mr Hori is mocked by his girlfriend because of his unusual hobby of spotting typos in books and magazines and then sending notes to publishers. This is a sign of his weirdness. As a teacher who reluctantly who later became an amateur typographer I can easily understand the obsession. Not only is not particularly weird but in this case it plays a part in Hori’s realisation of what might be happening between Minato and Yori. The Japanese writing system and Japanese conventions in the use of names are both quite difficult to follow for Western audiences and not necessarily helped by subtitles in the case of names. On this score I was interested to note that on the print I watched the end credits  mostly used English and Romanised names but still maintained the Japanese form of family names first and personal names second (as we attempt to do on this blog).

Monster has not yet become available on streamers in the UK. It is still just about in small cinemas in the South of England through Picturehouses. I hope it becomes more accessible in the next few weeks. Kore-eda is the best around at the moment so please don’t miss this film.