Monster () is a 2023 Japanese  drama film directed and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda from a screenplay written by Yuji Sakamoto. It stars Sakura Andō as a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing disturbing changes in her son's behavior. The film marks the first time Kore-eda has directed a film he did not write himself since Maborosi (1995). The film was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died two months before its release; the film is dedicated to his memory.

Monster had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and was honored with the Queer Palm as well as the Best Screenplay award. The film was released in Japan on 2 June 2023.

Synopsis

Cast
 Sakura Andō as Saori Mugino, a single mother
 Eita Nagayama as Michitoshi Hori, Minato and Yori's homeroom teacher
 Sōya Kurokawa as Minato Mugino, Saori's son
 Hinata Hiiragi as Yori Hoshikawa, Minato's classmate
 Mitsuki Takahata as Hirona Suzumura, Hori's lover
 Akihiro Tsunoda as Humiaki Shoda, the vice-principal of the elementary school that Minato and Yori attend
 Shidō Nakamura as Kiyotaka Hoshikawa, Yori's father and a single father
 Yūko Tanaka as Makiko Fushimi, elementary school principal

Production

For Hirokazu Kore-eda, Monster is the first Japanese-language film he has directed since the international success of Shoplifters (2018), which won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. In between, he shot two feature films: the English- and French-language The Truth (2019) and the Korean-language Broker (2022). Initial information about the project became known in November 2022 after filming had concluded. At this point, Monster was in post-production. For the first time since his feature film debut Maboroshi (1995), Kore-eda was not responsible for the screenplay. The script was written by the successful Japanese television writer Yuji Sakamoto. Kore-eda described Sakamoto as the one writer he had always wanted to collaborate with but that he gave up thinking it would happen. Kore-eda said that he felt a sense of closeness with Sakamoto for their shared interest in the same motifs. He described feeling "both envy and in awe of his ability to develop a subject in such a tremendously interesting way." Sakamoto described Kore-eda as the "world's best screenwriter" and recalled looking up to him when the two filmmakers attended the same school and occasionally rubbed shoulders.

Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama and Yūko Tanaka were cast in the lead roles along with the two child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi. The director had previously worked with Andō on Shoplifters. The two child actors were selected after repeated auditions. Kore-eda praised them for their shared on-camera chemistry, which contrasted the apparent differences in their facial appearances and personalities.

The prolific filmmaker and best-selling author  served as the film's lead producer. Kawamura previously worked with Kore-eda in producing his Netflix series The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (2023). Kenji Yamada served alongside Kawamura as a producer. The production was financially supported by the companies Toho, Gaga Corporation, Fuji Television Network, AOI Pro and Kore-eda's company Bun-Buku.

Ryuichi Sakamoto committed to produce music for the film. However, Sakamoto did not have the physical strength to accept the offer to create an entire score. At the direct request of the director, he submitted two piano pieces. He used songs from his new album 12 and old songs to compose the whole. In a commentary, Sakamoto stated that the film deals with an "esoteric theme" and that it was difficult to discern who the eponymous "monster" was. According to Kore-eda, the collaboration with Sakamoto was a "longtime wish that finally came true". During filming and editing, he listened to Sakamoto's music in his hotel room. Sakamoto died on 28 March 2023 after a long battle with cancer.

Release
A teaser trailer was published in early January 2023. A promo was shown in February 2023 at Berlinale's European Film Market. Monster was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 17 May 2023.

In Japan, the film was released on 2 June 2023, co-distributed by Gaga Corporation and Toho. Gaga has the distribution rights for the rest of Asia. Goodfellas will handle international sales excluding Asia.

Reception

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Monster holds an approval rating of 95%, based on 44 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Gently devastating in its compassion, Monster is a masterpiece of shifting perspectives that surprises to the end." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reviewing the film following its Cannes premiere, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded it 4 out of 5 stars, deeming it "a film created with a great moral intelligence and humanity."

Awards and nominations

References

External links
 

2023 films
2023 drama films
2023 LGBT-related films
2020s Japanese films
2020s Japanese-language films
Japanese LGBT-related films
LGBT-related coming-of-age films
Films directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Toho films
Films scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Queer Palm winners