At the community screening of Monster, Dorkaholics had an opportunity to speak with the film’s director Hirokazu Kore-eda.
How would you like audiences to feel after watching this film, as well as any specific takeaways you want from the film?
Hirokazu Kore-eda (HK): It’s up to the audience what they want to take away from a film. What we filmmakers can do is just present it to the audience and then have them see things in the film that they want to take away. But what I really wanted to show was that, at the end, the two boys were reborn in a certain way that they could identify with their sexuality and live a positive life. So, I think it really behooves us as the audience to change ourselves as well so that we can congratulate them and be supportive of them as they go on in life. That’s the kind of effort that I wanted to make in this film.
What do you see in their resolution at the film, and what kind of changes may have been invoked in them for the sake of the children?
HK: The mother and the teacher both realized that they had been mistaken, and that’s why they went chasing after the boys. They reach their hands and their arms out to the boys, but whether that’ll be accepted or not is a question. The main effort is that they realized their misconception and are really trying to reach out to the boys. That is what their change is, and that’s what’s hopeful about them too.
Monster opened in New York on November 22 and opens in Los Angeles and Chicago December 1, with additional releases on December 15 in areas such as San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Dallas, Denver, and Washington D.C.
