A Monster Calls received its world premiere at Fantastic Fest and is scheduled for early 2017 release. A boy is visited by a monster at one minute past twelve midnight. That monster informs the boy that he will tell him three stories. And once he has finished the last of these, it’s time for the boy to return the favour by telling his own story, which is conveyed as one that would expose a profound truth.
This is the condition in which J.A. Bayona’s adaptation of Patrick Ness’s bestselling novel takes place. However, A Monster Calls is a great deal more than that; it is an evocative exploration of sadness, isolation, sadness, and love. Connor O’Malley is the child in question – a “boy too old to be a kid, too young to be a man”. And every single hour of his day is an hour to be filled with trauma of which school is no exception where he is bullied and he goes home to a cancer stricken mother.
We watch the young boy as he prepares breakfast for himself and his siblings in the motel room in which they live, all life is utterly over for his mother who is upstairs quietly seeping coughs and changes and engaging in the final stage of death and one can really appreciate his nl loneliness and frustration. Connor sees his father who comes from overseas but the fact that the man will soon take off again to go back to his recent family makes Connor’s rage and resentment even worse. That makes things even worse because he has to share space with his harsh grandmother whose place is more of an institution than a home as she is also in need of help as she painfully watches over her child’s health decreasing day by day.
Connor, on the other hand, loves doing sketches however has been preferring to go pad his brain in a fantasy world in which he sails into and completely looses himself in his art. But then again night comes and with it comes its own evils that is the torments of the heart and the monster keeps his promise and returns with the three dreadful fables. The first two stories are in some mix of linear and stop motion cartoons the first two dealt with a more on the marital aspect of a farm workers daughter and the prince a parson and a chemist. And both of these works are filled with parables and meanings, although the essence of the stories is not instant.
The vivid hues of the fables have turned monochrome which is shades of grey and sepia as Conner lives through a series of school bullying which grow worse and worse, his mother in the hospital grows sicker and sadness submerges him. It’s difficult material, which can hit some very visceral notes that would as well make the movie uncomfortable to some viewers. But the charm and power of the apparition, a huge tree-like burning and speaking in the voice of Liam Neeson, saves this film from becoming completely drenched in sorrow.
The third story is able to reconcile the world of Connor’s imagination – a world that is startlingly more upsetting, emotionally taut, yet sickly satisfying. And when the child is willing to share his own inner truth, the full extent of the genius of this narrative, and the stories contained within it, begins to surface, with the ending promising no one will have dry eyes. We are surely being played with, it also does not escape from using the construction of flashbacks where most if not all of the images of the adult characters are seen from Connor’s angle, ET or ET-like reversing this time trying to show most of the adults towering above them, and most of the “adult” talk not in view or listening range. They are bringing us back in time to childhood, perfect in all respects and however with all the turmoil and the worries that such a lapse entails, but it is no near the language for it.
And of course, there is nothing out of the ordinary when this type of an unusual and multi-layered orchestral score expands into a more epic theme We are once again made to understand that the film is based on emotional coercion. This is very evident in the irony. In this case, the burst of music is entirely out of sync with the overwhelming emotion in the scene, which is the strongest in the film. There is however a little complaint that it becomes a bit too obvious. It is however over the top where it should have been subtle the cause of the over-the-top instances in the picture’s most emotional.
A Monster Calls is very clear at times in hounding its message to the audience. Probably, in a tale so painful and tragic, we must really be taken like that by the hand, although I do have to admit there were moments in the film where it felt quite heavy-handed because A Monster Calls was determined to drive its message home.
Where Bayona manages to come up trumps is in capturing the suspense. Is the monster there for real or in Connor’s mind, his id warning and forbidding yet sheltering him? There are some hints – but it is up to the audience – and everyone is free to come up with their version of the truth, which is the kind of stories that are hard to forget after viewing the movie.
He dangles a nice performance Lewis MacDougall as Connor with the return of the perfect impression of youngsters but it feels like he acts better towards humans as here, Lewis MacDougall is quite good with the monster but the boy’s a little stiffer in his scenes with the monster.
Still, those humans are all wonderful, Connor’s mother portrayed by Felicity Jones has power and dignity; Toby Kebbell shows slight hints of sorry-sorrow of the father when looking at the son and realizes that he has really failed his son too much and Sigourney Weaver as the grandmother putting on a brave front slowly crumbling.
Admittedly, the creature is a fine special effect, but the most awesome moments in the film involve Connor and his gran, hinting at hope for tomorrow and imparting such humanity to the film that is as great as it is relevant.
Verdict
It’s difficult to decide exactly who A Monster Calls is intended for: the tale is oftentimes so frightening and mentally loaded that it is unfeasible to expect children to understand it, while at the same time, very occasionally, it is a tad too crude and ham-handed for grown ups. Be that as it may, it approaches the challenging subject in a sophisticated and sensible manner, and such a purpose would be infused with such emotions that it encourages and inspires one.
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