A Monster Calls

MONST1_2016“And then one day the invisible man decided: “I will make them see me.”
“How?”
“He called for a monster.”

The big New Year’s Day UK release for 2017 sees the world through the grief riddled eyes of a young innocent boy. Innocent, that is, until a monster comes calling. A beautiful adaptation of a heartbreaking story, A MONSTER CALLS captivates and terrifies with ‘Grootesque’ proportions (if you are familiar with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) that pun should make a lot more sense).

J A Bayona’s latest film after the triumphant THE IMPOSSIBLE (2013), A MONSTER CALLS sees a storytelling monster and a reticent grandmother help a young boy come to terms with tragic inevitability. Based on the novel of the same name written by Patrick Ness (first imagined by Siobhan Dowd who sadly passed away before she could write the novel), A MONSTER CALLS (2017) tells the tale of young Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall, in his first major role) burdened by being ‘too old to be a kid, but too young to be a man’. Centred around a family unit destroyed by an absent father (Toby Kebbell) and a cancer-suffering mother (Felicity Jones), Conor struggles to cope with the responsibility now required of him.

After repeat hauntings of the same nightmare, at 12:07am one night instead of the quiet silence Conor is used to the ground begins to tremble and a monster emerges from a distant ancient yew tree in a church graveyard. The Monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) heads straight towards Conor’s bedroom, destroying everything in its path only to proposition O’Malley by telling three stories in exchange for a fourth told by Conor himself.

‘too old to be a kid, but too young to be a man’

Although at times slightly terrifying and intimidating, this film is surprisingly humorous and sheds a warm light on the dulled colour scheme of the cinematography. The bleakness of the novel is realised with strong pathetic fallacy and almost inhibiting sepia tones. The film takes place in a rural housing estate in England at what appears to be at a junction between a London residential street and an open countryside. For the title credits and for the animation for the Monster’s stories told within the film, a sporadic watercolour style is used which almost appears ethereal and adds moments of intense colour which the live-action visuals seem to lack. The stories are animated like shadow puppets or models in a similar style to the story of The Three Brothers told in HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART ONE; at times appearing kaleidoscopic and striking. Compared with the detail and ferocity crafted into the Monster’s form, A MONSTER CALLS is a confident and well designed feature.

The cast for this film is very impressive and each gives a strong performance. Exceptional credit should be given to Lewis MacDougall and Felicity Jones who boldly portray the exact emotion their characters are feeling. A hospital scene towards the end of the film confirms the sheer ability and commitment Jones has when fulfilling a role. The film has been transferred effectively from the novel, maintaining its powerfully emotional dialogue almost to the letter. Praise should be noted for Patrick Ness who not only wrote the novel but was also the screenplay writer for the film – an example of why this should always be the case when adapting novels to the screen! Starting the year comfortably with this impressive release, A MONSTER CALLS will touch everyone’s hearts and reignite our emotional relationship with cinema.

A MONSTER CALLS is in UK cinemas from Jan 1st 2017.

httpvh://youtu.be/R2Xbo-irtBA