"Monster", a movie that starts something new the moment you finish watching it [Doichiro Enoki's Movie Akasatana Vol.29]

"Monster" was interesting. Yuji Sakamoto won the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was very satisfied with his work.In fact, I felt that the Cannes jury could relate to the realities of educational settings in Japanese regional cities, for example. I'm very impressed. The horns in this movie are really sharpened and sharpened so that if you even touch the tip, you'll bleed. My emotions are shaking. Thanks in part to the good acting of the actors, the expressions are extremely powerful. It took me until the very end and I was knocked out. There is no sound of goo.

Those are the kinds of movies that make you ruminate on the way home from the movie theater, think about them while holding on to the straps of the train, sigh as you pass through the ticket gate at the nearest station, think about them on the street at night, and remember the scenes as you turn on the lights when you get back to your room. There is, right? That's it. In the end, I end up thinking for days without thinking and thinking without thinking.

That means it's a good movie after all. There are some movies that you can instantly forget everything about and feel a sense of excitement the moment you finish watching them, but there are also movies that start something inside you the moment you finish watching them. I had a hard time getting started on the manuscript for this movie review. I was groaning in front of my desk, wondering what I should write. How should I write to convey this deep and heavy response? Since I'm going to write this, I hope it reaches as many people as possible. I want as many people as possible to visit the movie theater.

While I couldn't get started on the manuscript, what was floating in my head were words I heard from my late acquaintance, Momoko Sakura. I had dinner with Sakura-san, went to her house to see the turtles, and we got to know each other very well, but one day, for some reason, she said to me, ``People cry when they understand, or when they understand.'' '' he said. This is a great word, isn't it? What you can understand, what you can understand. Humans are social beings. I've cried at both times as well. In some cases, I cried uncontrollably.

So, why is it true that ``people cry when they understand, or when they understand,'' it's because they don't understand, and they don't understand. No understanding. I don't feel the same way. Therefore, people's hearts are always tense. I'm tense and enduring stress. In the first sequence of ``Monster,'' single mother Saori (Sakura Ando) struggles to protect her only son, Minato (Soya Kurokawa). He denounces the violent behavior and bullying of his teacher, Mori (Eita Nagayama), and demands that the principal (Yuko Tanaka) change his homeroom teacher. The audience is struck by the urgency and desperation. And he feels angry at the school, which only responds with a wooden nose. What a lack of understanding. How can you not feel the same way? Are teachers machines or do they have no human heart?

“Monster” ©2023 “Monster” Production Committee

However, in the second sequence, when the same story is told from the teacher's perspective, we see something completely different. Our homeroom teacher, Mori, is rather frank, well-meaning, and has a ``human heart.'' It's the parents who don't understand and can't get their feelings across, and the parents who are like complainers, and the school who are doing everything they can to put out the fire. Before long, the media started making noise, and Hari became isolated.

After that, there is a third sequence in which the same story is told from a different point of view; the structure is that of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (50). Draw and explore a single event from three different perspectives. The original story of `` Rashomon '' is Ryunosuke Akutagawa's `` Yabu no Naka ''. The truth is hidden there. The only difference is that in ``Monster,'' the third sequence depicts what appears to be the truth. But it's not a mystery, so it doesn't solve anything.

Rather than that, it is the danger of The Truth and correctness. The world as seen through the eyes of single mother Saori and the world as seen through the eyes of homeroom teacher Mori are somehow The Truth apart from each other. This is true in each case. They each hold their own The Truth, are stunned by the other's lack of understanding, and suffer from the inability to communicate with each other.

Yuji Sakamoto made the following comment at his triumphant press conference after returning from the Cannes Film Festival. "I was driving my car and I was waiting at a red light. There was a truck parked in front of me and the light turned green, but the truck didn't start moving. I thought he was looking the other way, so I honked the horn. However, the truck still didn't move.After it finally started moving, there was a person in a wheelchair at the crosswalk, and the truck was waiting for that person to cross, but I, who was behind the truck, couldn't see it. Since then, I have continued to regret honking the horn, and there are things in this world that we cannot see in our daily lives. I am sensitive, but it is very difficult for me to realize that I am the perpetrator.How can I realize what the perpetrator is doing to the victim?I have been thinking about this for about 10 years. So, as one way to draw it, I chose this method of drawing from three perspectives.'' (From NTV NEWS)

That's right, there are things that cannot be seen by those who hold their own The Truth and righteousness. Each person's The Truth and rightness has a sense of urgency and urgency, so when both parties are exposed to the lack of understanding from the other person or those around them, they both end up feeling like they are the ``weak'' or ``victim.'' This is where it gets really difficult. If both parties are ``weak'' and ``victim,'' it's a dead giveaway. Both parties are placed in a tense state of tension and are exposed to stress.

``People cry when they understand something or when they understand something.'' Momoko Sakura is right. If you understand or have someone understand you, your tension will melt away and your heart will become brighter. However, there are things that humans cannot see. A person in a wheelchair crossing a crosswalk, hidden behind a truck.

If you don't recognize it, if you don't know it might exist, you can't see it.

So, in terms of its overall structure, ``Monster'' may be a movie that makes the audience aware of ``the person in the wheelchair crossing the crosswalk, hiding behind the truck.'' It's an opportunity for me to think, "Oh, there's something I can't see." So I watched until the end and cried when Sakura said, ``When you understand.'' I thought I couldn't see anything.

Text: Ichiro Enoki

Born in 1959. Born in Akita Prefecture. Debuted in a commercial magazine with ``Takarajima'' in 1980 while studying at Chuo University. Since then, he has serialized columns and essays in various magazines, and continues to this day. Also active on radio and television. Twitter @ichiroenokido

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