Monster (2023)

Original title

怪物

Directed by

Hirokazu Koreeda

Cast

Liu Zhi Yang, Wen Mo Yan, Li Kai Wen, Zhang Ya Meng, Zhang Yong Xu

Genre

drama film, thriller film, coming-of-age film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

Japan

Runtime

2h 07m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 911 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A mother notices strange changes in her young son's behavior and confronts his teacher. The story unfolds from multiple perspectives, gradually revealing hidden truths about the boy's life at school and at home.

mysteriousemotionally chargedslow-burnunsettlingtenderthought-provokinglayered

What happens

Monster (Japanese: 怪物, Hepburn: Kaibutsu; lit. Monster) is a 2023 Japanese coming-of-age psychological drama mystery thriller film directed, co-produced, and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda from a screenplay written by Yuji Sakamoto. It stars Sakura Andō as a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing disturbing changes in her son's behavior. The film marks the first time Kore-eda has directed a film he did not write himself since Maborosi (1995). This was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died two months before its release; the film is dedicated to his memory. Monster had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and was honored with the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay award. The film was released in Japan on 2 June 2023. It received widespread critical acclaim with special praise for its screenplay, direction, acting, editing and musical score and appeared in many lists of top ten "best of the year". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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