265: Monster

Welcome to an At The Flicks pop up review show. Listeners will know that the best way to annoy Jeff is to make him watch a subtitled film. And that’s exactly what we do here. While there were legitimate reasons for picking this feature, upsetting Jeff is always an added bonus. The film in question, Declan’s suggestion. Is director Hirokazu Koreeda’s follow up to Shoplifters called Monster. No, this is not a horror film (at least not in the conventional sense), it’s a powerful study of prejudice, abuse and misunderstanding. In our discussion we cover: - The Rashomon film making style employed - How the different perspectives of the characters fit together to a cohesive whole - Ryuichi Sakamoto’s wonderful music score (his final one). We use a very brief selection from it for our intro and outro music to the show. - What the ending means (so it is advisable to watch the film before listening to the show) - Why Dec believes this is a film we all should be watching One final comment. The film deals with domestic abuse, so it is important that you are aware of that fact before deciding to watch Monster (in part where the title comes from). If you have seen Monster please let us know what you think. As always, we are look forward to your comments. Until next time, see you At The Flicks.