Critique: A Monster Calls (Film) 1/2

Connor’s mum has cancer. The twelve-year-old is visited by a tree monster at night. The Tree Monster promises Connor three stories and, in return, Connor has to share his nightmare, his truth.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

 

Good Shots

 

There are many good camera choices that deserve ti be recognised.

When Connor puts his school shirt on, we don’t see any of his skin. There was good angle work going on to manage this, especially considering the camera angle moved as this happened.

In the first story, the Tree Monster stretches his arm. It zooms in then zooms out, revealing a bridge that people ride across; behind the bridge, the Tree Monster walks with two arms dangling at his side. A good transition.

Connor doesn’t swipe his pencil shavings off his paper. This is realistic behaviour for artists. I’m glad they chose this realistic shot over making the ‘perfect’ shot.

When Connor goes to sleep in the Tree Monster’s hands, the camera zooms in. When it zooms back out, Connor is sleeping under the tree. Like the zoom in-out with the bridge in the first story.

 

Fantasy or Hallucination?

 

I’ve never doubted if the fantasy elements are real (in-film) before.

Connor is clearly a stressed kid. His head is in the clouds. Combined, Connor’s statistically more likely to hallucinate than others.

When in the hospital at the end, Connor’s mum sees the Tree Monster. It’s very unlikely that two people could share the same hallucination. As Connor goes through his mother’s artbook, he sees the Tree Monster and all the characters/scenes from the stories the Tree Monster told him.

Throughout the film, we’re kept guessing if it was real or hallucinations, both seeming like plausible options without contradicting each other.

 

Problems

 

Most of the problems are related to Grandma’s character, but I’ll start with the one problem that isn’t hers.

In the second story, there is a parson. This is a very unusual choice of words for something set in England, especially considering that this story was based during the Industrial Revolution. Words like priest or vicar would’ve been more appropriate.

Grandma tells Connor how they all want his tea. We watch his make tea easily: if he already knows how to make tea, surely he knows his family’s preferences by now? So Grandma telling him is not realistic. One could argue she does this because she’s controlling, but everything she does screams ‘controlling’, so adding an unrealistic control is completely unnecessary.

Grandma buys replacement furniture. I wonder how she has the headspace for it: her daughter’s dying; she’s looking after a child; and she has to share her private space, her home, with someone for the first time in a while. Also, Connor’s situation hasn’t changed so what’s to stop Connor repeating the destruction? It just seems like a risk.

Sigorne Weaver does a good, convincing English accent. There was only one hiccough. When in the car, she says, “It doesn’t matter” twice, but they were both in different accents!

 

Story-Real Correlation

 

Each story is relatable to Connor’s current circumstances.

For the second story, Connor is told the story of a man who only thinks of himself. Up until this point, Connor had been wallowing in his own anger, his denial, his anger. That is, everything he’s thinking about is his emotions. So both him and the story character think of themselves (even if Connor’s is justified coping).

There are also more obvious ones. In the first story, the prince is frustrated with his grandma, just like Connor is feuding with his grandma. In the second story, the Tree Monster destroys the parson’s house, just like Connor wakes up to find he’s destroyed Grandma’s house. In the third story, both the character and Connor attack those who ignore him.

 

Almost Problems

 

There are two things that look problematic on the outset. So these are reasons why these shouldn’t be classed as criticism.

The audience views a door from inside its room. We can hear Connor on the other side first unlocking the door and then twisting the handle. Yet from the inside, the doorhandle didn’t move. If I hadn’t seen a moving-static handle before in real life, I would have said this was so unrealistic!

Throughout the story, the Tree Monster says that Connor called it. Connor denies this. If Connor’s right (and surely he is, because surely he’d know?) then the title ‘A Monster Calls’ would be baffling. But even if you invite someone over, it would be legitimate to say the someone ‘called in’ on you. That would make the title legitimate.