VIFF mainstay Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) returns, this time to take on the discussion of homophobia. The critique he offers is piercing and poignant. After decades of gems from the director, we’d expect nothing less. What’s fresh and provocative about his latest work—besides a beautiful final score from the late Ryuichi Sakamoto—are its twists and turns. At first, Monster appears to be the story of a boy named Minato (Soya Kurokawa) and the abuse he faces at the hands of his school teacher Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), but as the film explores the same events through different perspectives, notions of blame get scrambled in what might be described as a moral mystery tale. What makes him one of our greatest living directors is his ability to fuse elements that are often at odds in cinema. His work is both cerebral and deeply moving, both rich in characterization and marked by a sense of the unknowable. Best of all, like all the finest entertainers, the man knows how to challenge a wide audience without alienating it: Monster is as rewarding as it is complex.
Best Screenplay, Cannes 2023
Supported by
Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, Mitsuki Takahata
Japan
2023
Special Presentations
In Japanese with English subtitles
Gender or Sexual Discrimination
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Minami Ichikawa, Toru Oota, Tom Yoda, Hajime Ushioda, Hirokazu Kore-eda
Producer
Minami Ichikawa, Genki Kawamura, Ryo Ota, Kiyoshi Taguchi, Hajime Ushioda, Kenji Yamada, Tatsumi Yoda
Screenwriter
Yûji Sakamoto
Cinematography
Ryuto Kondo
Editor
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Production Design
Keiko Mitsumatsu
Original Music
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Director
Photo by Tamotsu Fujii
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Hirokazu Kore-eda was born in 1962 in Tokyo, Japan. Before pursuing film, He had originally intended to become a novelist. His directorial debut, Maborosi (1995) won the 52nd Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Osellam and he has been a fixture at international film festivals ever since, producing a string of gentle humanist films marked by their compassion and grace.
Filmography: Maborosi (1995); Still Walking (2008); Like Father, Like Son (2013); Shoplifters (2018); Broker (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Namesake
Powell River... named for Israel Wood Powell, a 19th century politician and a man of his time, an advocate for residential schools and the Indian Act. The Tla'amin Nation asks the city to consider changing its name, a request which sparks intense debate.
Delicatessen
Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet collaborated with Marc Caro on their first film, a breathlessly inventive and unexpectedly charming comedy about two young lovers evading a cannibal butcher in a post-apocalyptic France.
Mistura
This foodie film from Peru tells the story of a newly single socialite reinventing herself — and the local cuisine — after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Along the way, she finds support from unexpected places...
Everybody to Kenmure Street
This rousing documentary (100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) never puts a foot wrong as it recreates a tense, prolonged stand-off between the police and the citizens of Glasgow when an Immigration Enforcement squad attempt to arrest two men from their homes.
Coastal Jazz & VIFF Present: Lina Nyberg Live Score: The Norrtull Gang
This collaboration with Coastal Jazz brings together a proto-feminist silent film from the early 1920s with a new live score written and performed by Swedish singer-composer Lina Nyberg with stellar local a string quartet.