Director: J.A Bayona
By Alex Watson
Rare it is that a movie captures both the innocence of youth and the pain associated with losing a loved one. Spanish director J.A Bayona's A Monster Calls is a picture that guarantees no dry eyes in the house. Delving into the loneliness, anger, and bitterness that comes with loss, Bayona shows us how comfort sometimes comes from the strangest places. Making full use of Liam Neeson's Groot like tree monster, we are taken to a place most humans are terrified to visit.
Lonely schoolboy Connor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is awoken each night at 12:07 am by a huge tree monster (Liam Neeson). The monster advises him that he will tell him three stories but after the last one, Connor must tell him his own story. Struggling to come to terms with the reality of his mother's (Felicity Jones) terminal illness, Connor feels isolated.
From the very onset of A Monster Calls, Bayona shows just how alone in this world Connor is. His mother's illness has forced him to fend for himself and the opening shows him making breakfast alone while mother coughs in the background. Things aren't helped by his strict grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) whose interfering has strained their relationship. His father (Toby Kebbell) is living his dream life away in LA and his visit only causes more friction. Bullied at school and now forced to move from his beloved home, little seems to be going right. A talented artist, Connor delves into a world of fantasy, something so familiar to many troubled teenage boys. When the monster first appears, his intentions are unclear but we sense he might be the only one who can save this kid. Whether this is a figment of Connor's imagination that is there to protect him or a creature sent from the heavens, Bayona refuses to reveal the secret.
In his breathy tones, the monsters three tales about a handsome prince, an apothecary and an invisible man each link in with Connor situation. The wonderful animated sequences inject life and colour into an otherwise bleak world. The third story is perhaps the one that will be the most celebrated, mainly because the monster's influence finally pays off. All around him, Connor is lost and his acting out threatens to tear his relationship with Grandma to shreds. As a side character, his elder is a great study on the suppression of grief. Bayona wisely doesn't make this only Connor's story because each person he is close to is affected in some way. The monster nurtures his destructive side, watching them go to town on an old house finally lets his frustration fly. Bayona keeps this adult side of the story to hushed conversations in other rooms. Shut out of his mother's illness Connor feels like he is confined to the shadows.
Perhaps the most prominent part of A Monster Calls is how deep the emotional core goes. Connor is counting on a miracle that he knows probably will not come. Only when he is forced to speak his truth does the monster's presence become obvious. It is a scene so potent and so unbearably raw that even the coldest heart will melt. This is a picture dedicated to a boys love of his mother and the fragility that comes with accepting fate.
Lewis MacDougall gives a great debut performance as Connor. Giving in the film its voice of youthful despair, MacDougall is very much a match for his more established co-stars. In limited screen time, Felicity Jones coaxes out a caring and utterly affecting turn as his mother. An emotional force throughout, she carries forward her fears of the unknown along with her regret she cannot be around. Sigourney Weaver is perhaps the ace in the deck and she captures the supporting honours. Playing a woman determined to put on a brave face, Weaver is magnificent. Barely able to contain her grief at losing her daughter, her desire to keep up appearances and be strong is what draw us to her.
A Monster Calls is unashamedly a weepie, but J.A Bayona also makes his audience think of life and death in a whole new way. After this picture prepare to bombard people you love with calls.
