MONSTER
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Certificate: 15
☆☆☆☆

VIEWPOINTS, perspectives, your filtering of evidence to fit your belief and narrative – these big-ticket questions are subtly laid out in this enthralling slow-burner Japanese drama.

Saori (Sakura Kurokawa) is a young widow, still mourning her lost husband as she tries to brave-face it for her son, Minato (Soya Kurokawa).

Saori begins to notice that Minato is expressing some unhappiness, and it doesn’t appear linked to the loss of his father. He begins disappearing at night, coming home from school with only one shoe, and manically cutting his hair short.

Saori believes something at school must be up – and that his teacher, Mr Hori (Eita Nagayama), is picking on him. When Minato tells his mother that his teacher struck him, she heads to the principal and the apology she is offered doesn’t satisfy. She can sense something is going seriously wrong – but what is it?

Meetings with the principal and the teachers solve nothing  and create more conflict. The mother is told that Minato has been bullying another child called Yori – but what has really transpired is much deeper and interesting.

What unravels is a three-way consideration of how we act and react, about group psychology and bigotry.

Told with use of flashbacks and focusing on the three main characters, this is adventurous and intelligent stuff. We see how each scene is viewed from the characters’ differing perspectives, and it creates a confusing world where good motives often lead to poor actions. Nothing is straightforward here – a bit like real life, then.

The reveal regarding Minato and Yori is unexpected and heart-felt. We are given a window into a young teenage world, a place where reality rears its ugly head every so often and the best defence against it is to daydream and build an imaginary place that offers them both a safe haven that the adult world cannot.

Across the board are powerful performances. The two young people playing Minato and Yori take a tough role and bring it to life. It feels very real.

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda has made a film that is entirely natural, and has added interest due to the translation of Japanese culture.

The minefield of being a parent, protecting your child, but accepting that you cannot see everything is a key element.