+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year
 |
| A picturesque poster for J.A. Bayona's A Monster Calls that indicates darkness and a pledge for hopefulness |
Our hero is a cowed boy, whose mother is gravely ill, who strikes up a fantastic companionship with a living, talking, walking tree that tells him three mysterious stories.
Under the guise of dealing with a serious topic for children and adults alike (acceptance of loss), A Monster Calls serves a humor-bereft, permanently sad plate of so-called family fodder. It is possibly meant to be more inviting because of its tree giant character, who functions as a kind of therapist for the boy.
Lewis MacDougall (Pan (2015)) plays the boy, who not only has an exhausted, dying mother, - another role that Felicity Jones (Albatross (2011)) has mysteriously won, - but also a grandmother (played by Sigourney Weaver (Chappie (2015))) with no warm feelings for him, a father (Toby Kebbell (Kong: Skull Island (2017))) who is a selfish bastard, no friends and in fact a school routine that seems to be made up largely of his getting bullied and beaten.
Whatever this depressing fantasy drama wants to teach us is unclear, - just as the tree's taxing parable-like stories. The darkness conjured up in A Monster Calls isn't suited for adults, youngsters or children. It is written by Patrick Ness (More Than This (2013)), adapting his own same-titled 2011 novel, based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd (A Swift Pure Cry (2006)), and directed by great Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona (The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012)). A Monster Calls may work as a novel, but it absolutely doesn't as a film. Furthermore the previously very impressive filmmaker Bayona isn't felt in this sorry slush, which is a real disappointment.
Related posts:
J.A. Bayona: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012) - The 2004 tsunami depicted in one of the strongest disaster films ever
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 43 mil. $
Box office: 47.2 mil. $
= Huge flop
[A Monster Calls premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. Focus Features bought the book rights in March 2014. Filming took place from September 2014 - ? in England and Spain. The release was pushed from October 2016 to December and January for a more auspicious competition situation. The film opened #40 to a 30k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it widened to a gravely underwhelming wide premiere at #12 with 2 mil. $, its peak domestically, where it only played 5 weeks and grossed a paltry 3.7 mil. $ (7.8 %). The only market where the film was a sure hit was in Bayona's native Spain, where it grossed 28.1 mil. $ (59.5 % of the total gross). North America was the 2nd biggest market, and the UK was the 3rd biggest with 3.5 mil. $ (7.4 %). The film won 9 Goya's (Spain's Oscar) out of 12 nominations. Despite the costly flop, Bayona is directing Universal's major tentpole Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). A Monster Calls is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of A Monster Calls?
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