Monster (2023)
Monster opens with a building on fire, as fifth grader Minato (Soya Kurokawa) and his single mom, Saori Mugino (Sakura Andō, also known for Shoplifters and Godzilla Minus One), watch from their balcony. After the fire, rumors that Minato’s teacher Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama) frequented the disreputable hostess bar in the burning building start spreading. Saori has heard the rumor and this may have planted a seen of distrust for Mr. Hori in Saori’s mind. One night, Saori comes home and finds hair clippings in the bathroom and realizes that Minato isn’t home. She goes out looking for him and finds him in an abandoned tunnel with a bandaged and bloody ear and Minato is upset about something. Saori starts to suspect that Minato’s teacher, Mr. Hori, is abusing him and goes to his school to confront them about it. The principal (Yûko Tanaka) and teachers are cold but polite, and they do concede that physical contact between Mr. Hori and Minato was made in the form of a hand to a nose. But, in an effort to shift the blame, Mr. Hori asserts that Minato has been bullying another student, Yori. Saori decides to visit Yori at his home, and Yori genuinely seems to like Minato and there appears to be no issue between them, which is even more disconcerting to Saori. The unanswered questions and the school staff’s icy cold behavior only infuriate Saori and tensions rise between them, which eventually culminates in an apology from Mr. Hori at a meeting in front of other parents.
Mr. Hori blames Minato for bullying because he sees him throwing things in class, and at one point when Mr. Hori walks into the bathroom as Minato is leaving it, he finds Yori locked in a stall. Like Saori, Mr. Hori is curious about Yori and also visits Yori’s home where he finds an abusive, alcoholic father. In a classroom scene, we see that there was physical contact between Mr. Hori and Minato when Mr. Hori tries to control Minato’s erratic behavior and in doing so, hits Minato in the face, causing a nosebleed. Allegations of his physical abuse start to spread and reaches the press, causing his girlfriend to leave him. After this, Mr. Hori goes to the school to confront Minato, an altercation which causes Minato to fall down the stairs at school. Mr. Hori is so distraught by all of these events, that he almost jumps off of a rooftop, but doesn’t. Later, when looking at Yori’s homework, he notices a pattern of coded characters that spell out Minato’s name, and realizes that the boys like each other. Upon realizing this, he runs to Minato’s house in a rainstorm to tell him that everything is okay. He is shouting at Minato’s house when Saori comes out and tells him that Minato is missing, so they go to look for him together, worried because the storm is escalating and causing mudslides.
From Minato’s viewpoint, he and Yori love spending time together, however Yori is disliked by the kids at school for being too effeminate, so Minato says that they can be friends, but not in front if the other kids. Sadly, Minato treats Yori harshly in front of the other kids at school, which looks like bullying to Mr. Hori. However, the other kids in class also treat Yori badly, but Mr. Hori doesn’t seem to notice that. One day while playing together, the two boys get close and Yori touches Minato’s hair. Later, uncomfortable with his feelings for Yori, Minato goes home and cuts his own hair, likely resulting in his cut ear. Another night, Minato goes to visit Yori, and Yori’s dad is yelling that Yori can’t see Minato because he has been “cured” and that Yori wants to see a girl instead.
Another viewpoint to consider is that of the principal, whose grandchild was accidentally backed over and killed by a car that supposedly the principal’s husband was driving. However, once again, rumors abound and people suspect that the headmistress actually ran over the child and made her husband take a fall to protect the school she works at. In a poignant moment between the principal and Minato, Minato admits that he has feelings for someone he cannot have, and does not want the other children to know that he cannot be happy because if this, and she tells him that another person cannot determine his happiness, only he can.
If there’s one thing that exacerbates many of these situations, it’s all of the rumors flying around, coupled with people quick to lay blame where there are a lack of facts. In the case of the school leaders involved, they didn’t want the facts about Minato, they only wanted to protect their school’s image by urging Mr. Hori to apologize with no investigation and no questions asked. And in the shadows of all of this confusion is a secret affection between Yori and Minato. As the story shifts between all of these different viewpoints, the lack of truth and understanding and those who perpetuate it become the clearer culprits.
Monster was directed and produced by Hirokazu Kore-eda, who is also known for his work on Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008) Like Father, Like Son (2013), and Shoplifters (2018). The screenplay was written by Yuji Sakamoto, with cinemaphotography by Ryuto Kondo. The music was written by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also wrote music for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), The Last Emperor (1987), and and The Revenant (2015). In 2023, Monster won the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay awards at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
