Minato and classmate Yori (Hinata Hiiragi) develop a close friendship
Japanese maestro Hirokazu Kore-eda is an expert at portraying childhood, whether it’s the siblings who fend for themselves in Nobody Knows or the young girl taken in from the streets by a makeshift family in Shoplifters. His latest film, Monster, takes place in a small school in rural Japan, offering shifting perspectives on a story that keeps its secrets hidden until the final act.
The focus is the young pupil Minato (Soya Kurokawa), whose single mother Saori (Sakura Ando) is soon storming off down to the school under the impression that her son’s teacher, Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), has hit her boy. But that’s just the start of an increasingly complex tale – it won Best Screenplay for writer Yûji Sakamoto in Cannes last year – that replays events through various eyes, Rashomon-style.