A Monster Calls (2016)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Incredibly sad movie, but an amazing portrail of how a child actually feels when faced with death.

Conor is having a bad time. Bullied at school, suffering a recurrent nightmare, and trying to cope with his mother's progressive illness, he is visited at night by a monster tree-man from the yew tree in the local churchyard who tells him three stories, and expects the true story of Conor's nightmare in return.This film takes Conor's real-life problems - very real, and all centred around his mother's illness - and smashes them face-first into the fantasy figure of the tree monster and his stories, fearsome and compassionate at the same time. This may not sound terribly convincing, but it works extremely well.The story came from a writer who died of the cancer which inspired her story before she was able to write the book: the author who worked her idea into a (childrens) book has also written the screenplay, and the stories-within-the-story are animated in the style of the watercolour illustrations in the original book. And this is some of the most beautiful animation you will see anywhere. Coupled with the CGI tree-man, there are some exquisite visuals on show here, interwoven seamlessly with the rather shabbily picturesque locations.Felicity Jones is good as the stricken mother, Sigourney Weaver does a brilliant job as the unsympathetic grandmother rather gracelessly making plans to take care of Conor afterwards, while dealing with her daughter's imminent death, a death which Conor is having such difficulty facing. Liam Neeson as the voice of the monster is amazingly good, and Lewis McDougal as Conor is stunning.All of which contributes to the emotional impact of this film, which is brutal. There is no niceness about what happens here, but it is dealt with compassionately and kindly as well as painfully. I sat in the darkness weeping as Grandma and Conor finally find a way to meet each other in a car stopped at traffic lights, and also as the Monster finally rips the truth of Conor's nightmare out of him. And as for the photograph of Mum and her father...This film hurt like hell, and I loved it.

Your monster may be cancer, it may be sickness, it may be losing someone close to you, or not being pretty enough, not having enough money, not good enough in some way... we all have monsters.Sometimes if we just tell the truth about our monsters they don't seem so scary. If we just admit to them we can have a bit of compassion for our fears and worries and the human condition we find ourselves in. Conor O'Malley finds a place within himself of telling the truth about one of his monsters... something so hideous he could never admit it to himself or anyone else before (wanting his mother dead).Telling the truth frees him just as it frees all of us when we can find a place of acceptance for how we actually are without hiding or putting on pretensions. This film is deep and touching and I would like to somehow reward every person involved in the making of it.

Conor is experiencing the worst time that has fallen to his share in childhood - the gradual extinction of the life of the most beloved and dearest person in the world - Mom. In an attempt to save himself from the pain of loss, which he is already capable of exposing to reality in a dream, Conor calls on the Monster, who will tell him three stories in return for a story he tells the young man himself.This tragic film is not a fairy tale told to children at night and, moreover, an entertaining film designed to cheer up the audience with bright scenes and merry moments. " A Monster Calls" - an instructive drama that raises an uneasy and very painful topic for each of us - the loss of a loved one. In this drama, fantasy is intertwined with reality, leaving a deep space for reflection and a sad mood.Probably, in all cases, children with a rich imagination do not remember their childhood well. Games like representing ourselves as a superhero or a character endowed with superhuman abilities allowed us to feel somewhere inside a force aimed at helping to overcome simple life troubles - to "surrender" the abuser in school or to destroy something dear to the person you hate. But Conor's rich imagination allowed the Monster to be called in the form of an alive trunk of an ancient yew. However, the Monster does not appear to be the monster we meet in Hollywood movies, but a wise mentor sent from above to help overcome the boy's tragedy.This film is worth watching in complete solitude, alone with your thoughts and emotions. One of those rare examples in our days, when the hard heart and soul is to stay away from the "Voice of the Monster" with criticism of unnecessary dramatization of events. The film is full of sad but useful emotions and feelings that I want to experience to all those rare people with a sensitive soul who understand that nothing and no one in this world is forever.