Monster Japanese film review: Psychology test of young friendship

... or would you be neither? That’s one of the puzzling questions posed in this intricate Japanese film.

Hinata Hiiragi, left, and Soya Kurokama in Monster.

If your brain was removed and replaced with a pig’s would you be a human or a pig? Or would you be neither but instead a monstrous creation for which there is no name? That’s one of the puzzling questions posed in the intricate Japanese film Monster.

This is a psychological drama that provides no easy answers. It uses the Rashomon effect to repeat scenes from different and often contradictory viewpoints. It is directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won the Palme d’or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, and written by Yuji Sakamoto.

The main setting is an elementary school in Japan. The main characters are fifth grade classmates Minato (Soa Kurokama) and Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), their teacher Mr Hori (Eita Nagaama) and Minato’s mother Saori (Sakuru Ando).

The opening scene is a blazing fire in an apartment block school. It’s said that the building houses a hostess bar and that Mr Hori is a regular. Who started the fire becomes one of the questions.

When Minato, who is aged 10 or 11, tells his mother that his brain has been swapped with a pig’s she asks who told him that. He says Mr Hori. He later adds that the teacher physically assaulted him.

When Mr Hori is brought before the principal (Yuko Tanaka), it is Franz Kafka’s The Trial relocated to a school. Whether he is guilty or innocent is irrelevant. He is forced to apologise to Minato and his mother.

The contrived apology is not enough for Saori, who wants him sacked. He laughs in her face and says it’s her son who is the bully and that his main victim is Yori. He asks her if Minato has a knife in his room.

Yet once the events are seen from different perspectives all assumptions become just that: assumptions. In that sense this film occupies a similar space to another one set in a school, The German drama The Teacher’s Lounge, which is in cinemas now.

We see Mr Hori with his girlfriend (Hirona Suzumura). We see Minato and Yori hanging out as best friends. We hear them chanting, “Who’s the monster?” We learn why the principal is semi-catatonic.

This film explores themes such as bullying, dysfunctional families, corrupt leadership, homophobia and, at the same time, the simple beauty of young friendship. There’s also a dead cat for which various people are blamed.

Monster (M)

Japanese language with English subtitles
125 minutes
In cinemas

★★★½