A Monster Calls
Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is a shy and frequently bullied child who lives with his cancer stricken mother (Felicity Jones) and invests his creative energy into drawing and artwork. One night he is visited by a monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) who takes the form of a tree near his home. The monster informs Conor he will visit him again to tell him three stories and becomes a frequent presence in his increasingly turbulent life.
I don't normally start these type of reviews with a warning, but don't go and see A Monster Calls if you are feeling in any way emotionally fragile. I'm not 100% sure but I thought I heard someone in my screening sobbing at the film's denoument. Said finale perhaps tugs on the heart strings a little too forcefully but one would have to be a curmugeon not to be somewhat moved. This is in part due to a strong performance from young MacDougall who excels in portraying a child struggling to come to terms with the way of the world, especially when confronting "the truth" the tree monster demands from him.
The combination of the film's dramatic and fantasy elements sometimes feels a bit uneven, although the visual style of the animation and the CGI is striking. Sigourney Weaver initially seems like an odd piece of casting as Conor's stern grandmother but comes to the fore in one particularly devastating scene. There are points in Conor's life when all he wants to do is smash things. It's a feeling that will resonate with a lot of people.
I suspect A Monster Calls won't be bothering my best of the year list* as it feels bit insubstantial overall but it's a relatable story largely well told.
*That reminds me, I must do the 2016 round up soon.
I don't normally start these type of reviews with a warning, but don't go and see A Monster Calls if you are feeling in any way emotionally fragile. I'm not 100% sure but I thought I heard someone in my screening sobbing at the film's denoument. Said finale perhaps tugs on the heart strings a little too forcefully but one would have to be a curmugeon not to be somewhat moved. This is in part due to a strong performance from young MacDougall who excels in portraying a child struggling to come to terms with the way of the world, especially when confronting "the truth" the tree monster demands from him.
The combination of the film's dramatic and fantasy elements sometimes feels a bit uneven, although the visual style of the animation and the CGI is striking. Sigourney Weaver initially seems like an odd piece of casting as Conor's stern grandmother but comes to the fore in one particularly devastating scene. There are points in Conor's life when all he wants to do is smash things. It's a feeling that will resonate with a lot of people.
I suspect A Monster Calls won't be bothering my best of the year list* as it feels bit insubstantial overall but it's a relatable story largely well told.
*That reminds me, I must do the 2016 round up soon.
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