A Monsters Calls is the story of twelve-year-old Conor (Lewis McDougall), whose mother (Felicity Jones) is suffering from a severe illness. When his mother takes a turn for the worse, his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) takes him into her home, even though the two have never gotten along. His father (Toby Kebbell) arrives from Los Angeles and proves to be little comfort. And then the monster (voiced by Liam Neeson), a massive tree creature, arrives, showing up at the same time every night, telling Conor stories and urging him to tell a story of his own, causing all manner of destruction along the way.
The film essentially visualizes the terrible things that Conor is feeling, manifesting his darkest thoughts in the monster, whose stories point towards the complex truths that adults must face every day. They seem to be simple fables at first, but they soon reveal their darker edge. Humans aren’t simple. Morality is rarely simple. The world cannot be broken down in good guys and bad guys, heroes and monsters. The film is a sweet, utterly unique coming-of-age story all about learning to deal with the horrific complexity of human life.
The trick to this film is that for the most part, it doesn’t really address whether or not the monster is real. It isn’t really pertinent to the story. Fact is, the monster is part of Conor, representing all the bits of himself that he cannot confront. It may seem like a simplification of what this kid is going through, but the story turns out to be much more clever than that. At every turn, the movie finds something deeper beneath the surface of the outward emotion. Conor is angry and confused, but there is also something much more painful lurking underneath all that.
The film uses potent allegory to express this idea. The monster’s stories point to a more nuanced understanding of human beings, a grasp of what it means to be human beyond the simple duality of good and evil. The film at times says a little too much, perhaps worried that it’s not being understood. But even when it goes too far, the movie never loses that sense of wonder that gives the otherwise dour narrative its potency.
A lot of it has to do with how the film looks. The monster is wonderfully realized, and its appearance brings changes to the world that fully reflect the existential horror with which Conor is confronted. The film makes gradual shifts in its palette as it comes closer to the harsher truths. Through it all, the film never leaves the perspective of a child, its camera making everything feel a little larger than life. Great acting helps things along as well. Lewis McDougall is a great discovery. This is a tough role for any child actor, but McDougall handles the prickly emotional arc of the character with real aplomb. Felicity Jones is terrific as his mother, her visible defiance serving her well in the role of a mother trying to protect her child from the reality of her illness. And then there’s Sigourney Weaver, whose British accent slips every now and then, but is provides a strong, powerful presence on screen that really serves the movie well.
A Monster Calls hurts. There’s no getting around it. Anyone who’s ever lost anyone close to them will recognize the emotions so powerfully depicted in this story. The film displays admirable empathy, its story all about giving people the room to feel terrible things, and how that doesn’t exactly help either. Because the world is a difficult place, and it doesn’t always make sense. It doesn’t always work out like it does in stories. The film confronts all those complex truths, and turns it into a story of a boy and his monster, dealing with pain that he cannot comprehend.
My Rating:
