Touching tale of grief, loss and love.
A Monster Calls screened at Fantastic Fest and hits screens in early 2017.
A boy is visited by a monster at precisely 12.07am. That monster informs the boy that he will tell him three stories. And once he has finished the third, the boy will then reciprocate by telling his own story, one that will apparently reveal a great truth
That’s the plot at the heart of J.S. Bayona’s adaptation of Patrick Ness’s bestselling novel, but A Monster Calls is about much more than that, the film a deeply affecting rumination on grief, alienation, loss, and love.
Connor O’Malley is the child in question, a boy who is “too old to be a kid, too young to be a man.” And his every waking hour is filled with misery, Connor bullied at school, then coming home to a mother being destroyed by cancer.
We witness the youngster making breakfast, alone, as his mother coughs and splutters and slowly expires upstairs, truly getting a sense of his loneliness and despair.
Dad visits from across the Atlantic, but the knowledge that he will soon depart to re-join his new family only exacerbates Connor’s anger and frustration. And the situation is made worse when he’s forced to live with his stern grandmother, whose house is less like a home and more like a museum, and who herself is struggling to deal with the grim reality of watching her daughter slowly wither away.
Connor loves to draw however, escaping into a fantasy world as his imagination takes flight and he disappears into his art. But then night brings its own terrors, the monster making good on his promise and returning to impart those three fables.
The first two tales are told via a combination of traditional and stop-motion animation techniques, the first revolving around a prince and a farmer’s daughter, the second about a parson and an apothecary. Both are filled with metaphor and meaning, though their respective messages aren’t immediately clear.
The beautiful colours of the fables are juxtaposed with the greys and browns of Connor’s day-time existence, as the bullying becomes increasingly spiteful at school, his mother becomes ever more ill in hospital, and sadness threatens to engulf him altogether.
It’s challenging stuff, packing a powerful emotional punch that frequently makes the movie tough to watch. But the magic and majesty of the monster – a giant, tree-like creature that breathes fire and speaks in Liam Neeson’s soothing tones – prevents the film from disappearing into a black hole of grief.
The third story manages to fuse Connor’s fantasy with reality in a scene that’s as upsetting as it is perversely satisfying. And when the boy is ready to speak his own truth, the brilliance of the story – and the tales therein – slowly becomes apparent, the finale unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house.
We’re undoubtedly being manipulated, Bayona shooting much of the film from Connor’s point-of-view, ET style, with the camera oftentimes looking up at the adults, and “grown-up” conversations frequently just out of sight or ear-shot. We’re being taken back to childhood, with all the insecurities and fears that come with such regression, but it’s far from subtle.
And while the orchestral score is undoubtedly beautiful, the music does frequently feel like it’s telling you to cry, becoming overblown in the film’s most emotional moments when something understated might have been more effective.
Perhaps we do need to be led by the hand in a story this tragic and heartbreaking, but at times the film does feel somewhat heavy-handed as A Monster Calls hammers its message home.
Where Bayona does succeed is in maintaining a sense of ambiguity throughout. Is the monster real, or is it in Connor’s mind, a projection of his subconscious both warning and protecting him? The clues are there, but it’s left to the audience to ultimately decide where this truth lies, making it the kind of story that’s hard to shake once the film has finished.
He teases a good performance Lewis MacDougall as Connor, though the youngster is better when interacting with humans, his scenes with the monster a little more stilted.
But those humans are all terrific, Felicity Jones imbuing Connor’s mother with great strength and dignity, Toby Kebbell hinting at the father’s regret and remorse as he realizes how badly he’s let his son down, and Sigourney Weaver delivering a nuanced performance as the grandmother desperately trying to maintain a brave face.
Indeed, while the monster is an impressive special effect, it’s the scenes between Connor and his gran that are the film’s most spectacular, hinting at hope for the future, and filling the film with a humanity that’s as powerful as it is effective.
The Verdict
It’s hard to know who A Monster Calls is aimed at, the narrative frequently too frightening and emotionally complex for the young, and on occasion a little too clumsy and heavy-handed for adults. But it bravely tackles a difficult subject with grace and sensitivity, and its message is deeply moving and affecting.
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