Monster: The Unsuccessful Collaboration Between Koreeda and Sakamoto

Spoilers

After two unsuccessful attempts abroad, Hirokazu Koreeda returned to his familiar territory in Japan, directing the film "Monster," written by Yuji Sakamoto and scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Starring Sakura Ando and Eita Nagayama, the film delves into societal suspense, just as his previous work “The Third Murder” in 2017, following the narrative structure of "Rashomon" with its multi-perspective storytelling, unraveling the truth behind a common conflict.

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Before this, Koreeda had written all his works himself. However, this time, he collaborated with the renowned Japanese screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto, which inevitably became a selling point for marketing.

These two giants in the Japanese film industry, along with the classic narrative structure provided by the great Akira Kurosawa, might have been expected to elevate "Monster" to greatness and salvage Koreeda's declining reputation. Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no.

Koreeda's strength lies in portraying the subtle empathy beyond dramatic effects between the audience and characters amidst the tranquility of everyday life. His films, like "Nobody Knows," tackle the sensationalized “death by abandonment” case not by high conceptualization but by exploring the psychological states of individuals in their daily lives. He excels at diluting the sharpness and edges of dramatic events with the smooth texture of mundane life and burying the general context of the times underneath the spiritual states of characters. In doing so, he continues the tradition of family films represented by Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse, as well as the political film tradition represented by Sadao Yamanaka.

Hence, Koreeda's films can be likened to grains of sand in the river of life, capturing the inherent ambiguity of humanity amidst the harsh realities of events. In light of this, Yuji Sakamoto's dependence on dramatic elements, the dualistic portrayal of good and evil, and the emphasis on "benevolence" towards human nature ultimately diverge from the director's vision.

When a director fine-tunes a script that doesn't resonate with them, eliminating unnecessary parts and accentuating elements in harmony with their style, they can largely sidestep the discord between the script author and the director. Regrettably, Koreeda lacks significant experience in navigating this aspect.

While "Monster" constructs its plot around a public issue of school bullying, all characters involved are uniformly innocent and pure. All adults are exonerated when the "truth" is revealed, and the director's expertise in the child's perspective becomes a tool for obscure and concept-driven filmmaking. Topics like the original family, school bullying, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake memory, and homosexuality are blended into trivialized filming techniques, combined with a three-act structure to intensify suspense. Yet, in the end, all characters are "whitewashed," causing "Monster" to lose Koreeda's depth and Sakamoto's gentleness, becoming a "monster" of neither reality nor illusion.

Now, let's delve into the intricate use of the "Rashomon" multi-perspective narrative structure and assess its effectiveness.

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The film is divided into three parts, each representing the perspective of a character: the mother (Sakura Ando), the teacher (Eita), and the boy (Shoya Kawakawa). The first two parts create suspense, while the last part resolves it.

From the mother's viewpoint, her son Maeno's behavior appears abnormal, potentially attributed to school bullying. In response, she takes a proactive stance by confronting the school, leading to clashes with the principal and teachers as she seeks a resolution.

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From the teacher's perspective, he is accused by Maeno's mother of violence, yet all his actions are innocent. Meanwhile, Maeno seems to be bullying another classmate, Hoshikawa.

Maeno's perspective unveils the truth: his classmates are bullying Hoshikawa, and he befriends him in secret. Maeno's seemingly negative actions, like breaking things in the classroom, are actually attempts to assist Hoshikawa in escaping from the bullying. The lost shoes were lent to a barefoot Hoshikawa. Here, the suspenseful elements established earlier are systematically unraveled, culminating in the exploration of children's sexual orientation.

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Simplifying the plot of the three segments, it becomes apparent that such a complex structural design is ultimately meaningless. It only slightly satisfies the audience's desire to unravel the mystery, providing neither a complex nor ambiguous portrayal of human nature.

In comparison to the advantages, the adverse effects seem more pronounced. The convoluted structure, applied to a clichéd story, makes the entire film seem artificial. It's like a thunderstorm followed by a few scattered raindrops, leaving the audience feeling awkward.

In Kurosawa's "Rashomon," multiple perspectives create uncertainty about the truth and subjectivity of the narrative. However, in the collaborative effort from Yuji Sakamoto and Koreeda, the multi-perspective approach guides the revelation of the truth from mysterious and intricate to straightforward and singular. Everyone acts out of pure love and kindness.

Certainly, a defense of "Monster" could be framed by asserting that the utilization of the narrative structure from "Rashomon" serves to elevate the film's genre effects. This approach enables diverse expressions of content and offers viewers varied experiences, potentially even contradictory ones.

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However, when examining the functional aspect of the film's form, the triple-perspective structure appears scattered and haphazardly patched together, failing to create a tightly integrated whole.

The creators “cleverly” employ the limited perspectives of characters to generate suspense, continuously "reversing" the narrative to inform the audience that they have been deceived. Through twists and turns, they lead us into what seems more like an enchanting fairyland than a genuine revelation. Here, the creators become the sole interpreters of this grand puzzle, choosing the innocent perspective of children, a viewpoint we hesitate to criticize or doubt.

This approach, marked by what can be termed as "the creator's tyranny," an overly sentimental portrayal of human emotions, and conspicuous posturing, signifies a departure from Hirokazu Koreeda's earlier position on artistic creation.

The failure of "Monster" highlights how writers and directors become entangled, unwittingly turning into puppets when faced with a script that doesn't align with their artistic identity. Despite the setbacks, the collaboration with Yuji Sakamoto allows Koreeda to broaden his horizons during a time when he attempts to transition away from the slow-paced life depicted in family films, delving into diverse themes and narrative structures. Nevertheless, perhaps it's a reminder that he should stick to writing his scripts!

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