Monster Calls, A (2016) [Blu-ray]
Drama | Fantasy

Tagline: Stories are wild creatures.

Liam Neeson, Felicity Jones, and Sigourney Weaver star in this visually spectacular and stunningly emotional drama. Young Conor's life takes a turn after his mother (Felicity Jones) becomes ill and he moves in with his unsympathetic grandmother (Sigourney Weaver). As an escape, Conor turns to his artwork and conjures up a 40-foot-high monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) who becomes a most unlikely ally by guiding him on a journey of courage, faith and truth that powerfully fuses imagination and reality.

Storyline: The monster does not come walking often. This time it comes to Conor, and it asks for the one thing Conor cannot bring himself to do. Tell the truth. This is a very touching story about a boy who feels very damaged, guilty and mostly angry. He struggles at school with bullies, and pity looks from everyone, and at home with his mother's sickness. Will Conor overcome his problems? Will everything be okay? Will Conor be able to speak the truth?

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, March 28, 2017 A Monster Calls succeeds at striking a seemingly unobtainable balance between two narrative extremes. On one hand, the movie is deeply metaphoric. On the other, it's very direct. It's in how the story fuses these two disparate extremes that it finds its ability to explore the dichotomies, complexities, pains, and realities that is life for the human species, a species simultaneously blessed and cursed with awareness of emotional pains and physical sufferings and an understanding of how things work but not always why things happen. The film, which is based on a story conceived by the terminally ill Siobhan Dowd and penned by Patrick Ness after her death, deals in the most fundamental of human pains, the pain of loss (or pending loss, as the case may be) and the resultant physical lethargy and grief and emotional turbulence and weariness that accompanies it. It's certainly not a subject that's a stranger to the dramatic arts -- literature, cinema, stage -- but A Monster Calls handles it with a direct grace that serves as a comfort through hardship without dismissing life's very real and inescapable pains.

Conor (Lewis MacDougall) is at that age when he's too old to be a boy, too young to be a man. But a man he must be. His mother (Felicity Jones) is dying. Various treatments are not working, and she's largely bedridden, leaving Conor the head of the house and responsible for keeping it up. He receives little help -- only condemnation -- from his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver), and he dreads a plan that would see him move in with her. Conor, however, is a dreamer and an artist. He sleeps little, and every night, at the same time -- a few minutes past midnight -- a large, living tree (Liam Neeson) interacts with him. The tree tells Conor three stories and expects Conor to tell it a story on the fourth night. As Conor hears its tales, his life takes further shape as his mother's deteriorates.

The film is not a traditional entertainment vessel, a Fantasy film with rousing adventure. It's instead a Drama with a resounding message. It uses the fantastical as a device to define the human condition and the response to its greatest challenges. The titular monster -- the big, hulking tree, Groot on steroids and with a substantially greater vocabulary -- is less a character and more a symbol, representative of one's inner voice, not necessarily of logical reason but of understanding, a mechanism for coping with pain and understanding suffering at the emotional level. The tree tells Conor three stories, each of which reflects his place in the world and outlook on life. When it's time for Conor to tell his story to the tree, it's not all roses. The film doesn't handhold, pretend, or dismiss raw emotion. It's about preparing to face trial and coming to terms with pain, not dismissing it. The story pulls no punches. It's raw, it hurts, it's sometimes hard to watch. The reward isn't finding pleasure in it. The reward is understanding its purpose.

A Monster Calls is well versed in the cinematic arts. It's elegantly constructed, making use of grand, but seamless, visual effects and deep, but well defined, sonic intensity. But more than its eyes-and-ears support is a film that finely blends its grander pieces with its finer, more fragile elements. The contrast between the emotional intimacy and the tree's size, appearance, and the movie's occasionally frenzied sound design is striking. That the film manages to maintain an emotional balance between tenderness and body blows is truly amazing. Director J. A. Bayona (The Orphanage) and Cinematographer Óscar Faura (The Imitation Game) shoot the movie a little softly, a bit darkly. It's a mood that reinforces the story, harsh on one hand, welcoming on the other. Performances are excellent, particularly in the camaraderie between Lewis MacDougall and Liam Neeson's digital/vocal performance. Sigourney Weaver's accent is forced, but Felicity Jones is superb as Conor's dying mother.

A Monster Calls is a difficult film to watch, and that's a large part what makes it a success. Tonally dark but hopeful, the movie is made of contrasts that center around the harsh realities of life but the process of grief and acceptance and understanding. It pulls no punches, never makes light of emotion, and doesn't pretend to offer a miracle, upbeat cure. It's a steady, honest film and one that will prove relevant for all at some point in their lives. Universal's Blu-ray is excellent, providing high-end video, reference 5.1 lossless audio, and a quality assortment of extra content. Very highly recommended.

[CSW] -2.8- A strange yet poignant story. It's intellectually strong, spiritually penetrating, and narratively enveloping. A very strong performance by a talented cast both by leading and supporting actors. The story flowed well throughout the film. The visual effects were aligned perfectly to the concept of this movie and the sound score carried the mood nicely, (not too heavy, just the right amount). I'm not rating this film a bit lower strictly based on the quality of the screenplay or story, but rather on my personal taste. Most will find this sad overall but it wasn't the sadness that lowered my score as much as how I took the three stories that the tree told. I won't elaborate on what I found disconcerting about those stories because they were necessary to the narrative. But emotionally it's not nearly as effective as it thinks, partly because you can actively feel it begging you to be sad.
[V4.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box


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