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BACK TO SCHOOL
MONSTER Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest takes us into a child’s viewpoint once again…
Japanese maestro Hirokazu Kore-eda is an expert at portraying childhood, whether it’s the siblings who fend for themselves in Nobody Knows or the young girl taken in from the streets by a makeshift family in Shoplifters. His latest film, Monster, takes place in a small school in rural Japan, offering shifting perspectives on a story that keeps its secrets hidden until the final act.
The focus is the young pupil Minato (Soya Kurokawa), whose single mother Saori (Sakura Ando) is soon storming off down to the school under the impression that her son’s teacher, Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), has hit her boy. But that’s just the start of an increasingly complex tale – it won Best Screenplay for writer Yûji Sakamoto in Cannes last year – that replays events through various eyes, Rashomon-style.
For Kore-eda, 61, it was the chance to use a school setting to explore adult themes. ‘[At one point] the teacher tells the boys to be like men, and these [are] adult values kind of compressed into children’s society. And so this twisted view of the world that adults might have gets reflected on the children and that’s what happens in our society as well – in Japanese society – and that’s where the cracks start to appear, and the school is just representative of that.’
Once again, Kore-eda shows what a master he is at directing children – notably Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi, who plays Minato’s bullied classmate, Yori. ‘There is no one method that works for all children,’ he explains. ‘It’s like teaching… you have to find the way of teaching that suits that individual child. Same with directing. And what I do is I spend time with those children that I’ve cast and spend time thinking about the role. There really is no substitute for time.’
Performances aside, one of the most distinguishing elements of Monster is the music, marking the final score by the legendary Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Last Emperor), who died in March 2023. ‘He was the only person I had in mind for the soundtrack. And, of course, he wasn’t well and so I thought it might be difficult.’ Still, Sakamoto agreed. ‘I was really proud that I got to work with him right at the very end.’
‘This boy begins to see amonster in himself… he has emotions he doesn’t understand’
HIROKAZU KORE-EDA
The question is, why is the film called Monster? Kore-eda points that film is about ‘seeking the monster’ inside oneself, which becomes apparent when Minato develops feelings for Yori. ‘The fact that this boy begins to see a monster in himself is because he has emotions that he doesn’t understand. And he can’t give voice to. And that emotion is that he loves someone, which is a normal emotion. It just so happens that someone that he loves is another boy.’
MONSTER OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 15 MARCH.