A Monster Calls (2016)

A Monster Calls (2016) is a tender, visually arresting fantasy-drama about grief, guilt and the healing power of storytelling. Twelve-year-old Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is struggling to hold himself together as his single mother (Felicity Jones) battles a terminal illness. Isolated at school, terrorized by a bully and facing a tense relationship with his estranged father and strict grandmother (Sigourney Weaver), Conor’s emotional world unravels into nightmares—until a towering, tree-like Monster appears at 12:07 a.m. The Monster demands three true stories from Conor and, in return, forces him to confront the one truth he cannot bring himself to voice. If you watch this film you’ll experience a mix of raw, intimate drama and dark, fairytale surrealism. Director J. A. Bayona and writer Patrick Ness braid powerful performances, haunting night sequences and imaginative creature design to create a story that is as visually lush as it is emotionally brutal. The score and cinematography underline the film’s melancholic, dreamlike atmosphere, while the Monster’s visits provide both terrifying wonder and moral challenge. Expect to be moved—often painfully—by the central relationship, to be unsettled by nightmare imagery, and to finish the film with a cathartic sense of honesty and loss. Critical response was strong, and the film’s craftsmanship—acting, direction, writing and score—has been widely praised. A Monster Calls is best seen with an openness to sorrow and imagination: it’s a film that asks you to sit with sorrow rather than look away.

Actors: Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones

Director: J.A. Bayona

Runtime: 108 min

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family

6.6 /10 76 /100 7.4 /10 7.2 /10