Review of A Monster Calls (2016) by Justin A — 05 Nov 2016

SIGOURNEY WEAVER PLAYS A GRANDMOTHER, WHAT ELSE COULD YOU ASK FOR?

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I did not see that coming. I walked in expecting to see a light coming of age story with a monster voiced by Liam Neeson. I got more. A whole lot more. A Monster Calls, although clunky at times, is a visually stunning and emotionally powerful film. The visual metaphors used by the director and the literary metaphors brought by the film's screenplay blended marvelously to bring us a look, albeit not so discreet, at the five stages of grief. For the aware, each story beautifully portrayed a stage of grief in a charming and profound manner. The emotional scenes were tension filled and each scene is able to put the weight into the audience's shoulders. As for improvements, there is a character who could just easily have been cut out entirely and there was minor difficulties into establishing a connection with the characters.