Review: Monster

Image courtesy of Wild Bunch International.

Hirokazu Koreeda's subtle bullying drama "Monster" subverts expectations at every turn, from the intentions of its characters to the relevance of its title. Koreeda is one of Japan's best living filmmakers and his pictures always go about studying the human condition in a delicate and thoughtful manner, thereby causing some to suggest that his work is a modern incantation of master Yasujiro Ozu's work.

"Monster" tells several stories surrounding a series of incidents in which a boy has either been bullied by a fellow student, by a teacher, or even doing the bullying himself. The film observes the story from the perspective of the boy's mother, a teacher who gets accused of getting physically rough with the kid, a principal who is grieving the death of a grandchild, and even the two boys themselves.

Not all of the story is told in a linear fashion. We start out with the mother's story, which seems pretty clear cut as she gets increasingly frustrated while visiting the school after being led to believe that her son was struck by his teacher and getting what can only be described as an obnoxious response from the principal - whose grandchild was killed, we learn, when her husband was backing out of a driveway - and other teachers, who seem to want to keep the matter under wraps.

We then cut to the teacher's perspective and learn that not everything is nearly as clear cut as we'd thought. By the time we get to the story involving the boy and his awkward friend who is actually bullied by other students at the school and his macho father, it would seem we know very little. It brings to mind the saying that the more you learn, sometimes the less you know.

By the film's end, a few characters have been implicated while others look better once we have more of the pieces of the puzzle, but "Monster" doesn't give us all of the pieces, and it's up to the viewer to formulate their own opinions on what really happened here and who's to blame. Often, the questions posed by works of art are more interesting than the answers - and that's the case here.

Koreeda has been steadily making great movies for nearly three decades and his best work includes the Palm d'Or winner "Shoplifters," the two 1990s films "Maborosi" and "After Life," and last year's "Broker." While "Monster" might not be among his finest films, it's a thoughtful and engrossing take on how a community reacts - or, in this case, fails to react - to a complicated situation. It's well worth a look.