Well Go USA Entertainment has released a new trailer and set up the awards-season U.S. release date for a highly anticipated Hirokazu Koreeda film “Monster,” the latest film which won the Best Screenplay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The Rashomon-esque story follows Minato (Soya Kurokawa), a young boy who is displaying increasingly worrying behavior both at school and at home. One day, single mother Saori (Sakura Andō) is unnerved when her son Minato comes home and confesses that he has been hit by his teacher Hori (Eita Nagayama). She is determined to see justice enacted despite no movement from anyone at the school. As she pushes further to be heard, the other sides of the story come to light.
Our writer Abe Friedtanzer pointed out in his review that Kore-eda movingly explores youth and the nature of truth, Kore-eda also presents a worthwhile examination of honor. Hori has his own opinion of what happened and seeks not to be misrepresented, yet there’s also the reputation of the school to consider, which can’t be tarnished by problematic allegations against a teacher or a student.
Koreeda already won Palme d’Or a few years ago for “Shoplifters,” and debuted his Korean film “Broker” in Cannes last year, returning to Cannes this year for this premiere. It was Kore-Eda’s ninth movie overall at Cannes but his first since his 1995 debut feature Maborosi that he has not had a screenplay credit on. It received a six-minute ovation at the world premiere.
The film has a score by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. Besides Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, the film also stars Souya Kurokawa and Yota Hiiragi, who play the two boys with freshness and emotion, as well as Yuko Tanaka, Mitsuki Takahata, Akihiro Tsunoda, Shidou Nakamura.
“Monster” premieres November 22 in New York City and opens in Los Angeles December 1, as well as in additional markets throughout December.
