Hirokazu Kore-eda INTERVIEW: Cannes-winning director of ‘Monster’

‘Monster’ Cannes-winning director talks about the script that made his heart pound

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, known for Shoplifters and Like Father, Like Son ponders the question, who is the monster? 

Now streaming on Prime, Apple TV and Vudu, there’s a reason Monster won Best Screenplay at Cannes. The entire film shows us by example just how quickly we jump to conclusions. The kind of reaction we use in panic mode because what could unsettle more thoroughly than something disturbing going on with children?

Monster is a story in three parts beginning with single mother Saori who can see something is happening with her kid. But no matter who she asks – her son, his friend, their teacher, the school principal – she just can’t get to the bottom of it. Her panic is palpable with each odd discovery. From her side, there’s a new weird thing on the daily. Her 11-year-old son chops his own hair, comes home with only one shoe and questions whether his brain was switched with that of a pig. He tumbles himself out of her moving car. 

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda is patient with us. He knows humans. We take in a message, make that snap judgement and move on. So, with inherent flaws in mind, he shows it to us twice. And guess what? We’ve done it again. Believed the visual. Believed the whispers of others. Believed we know what’s happening here. Kore-eda’s Monster very specifically and in nursery rhyme-like sing-song asks us: ‘Who is the monster?’

What’s beautiful is the distinct realization that one word by any number of characters could have changed everything. The entire movie. But creatures in the midst of things don’t think that way. We hide, we deflect. We don’t want to reveal our own dark thoughts, especially if we think we’ll be criticized. And maybe this too shall pass.

At the same time, on the young and relatively innocent side, what seems like the pull of harmless fun is kinda irresistible. Especially when the adults are starting to lose it, applying pressure and ramping up the feeling of doom at every turn. Who wouldn’t want to continue the merriment and pretend?

MOVING HEARTS

Director/screenwriter Kore-eda talks about the super-power of moving human hearts. It’s not something one can teach. “I was so drawn to the plot, I wanted to work with the screenwriter without even reading the full script. Things like the scene in the music room – the narrative delivered through the sound of an instrument – are Yugi’s magic.”

He’d wanted to work with screenwriter Yugi Sakamoto for a long time, but it was simply a matter of having a project that aligned them. For Monster, a producer had mentioned a story by Sakamoto so the director jumped on the opportunity to hear more.

Kore-eda, who more often than not writes his own screenplays, describes, “When I read it, my heart started pounding – I wish I could write a perfect script like that. Every scene was so clear that I could imagine shooting each one. I was so happy and excited. Yūko Tanaka, who plays the elementary school principal, was so impressed by the music room scene, she spent a year practicing to blow the French horn.”

MOUTHS OF BABES

The children are brilliant little actors and it’s Kore-eda who draws it from them, determined to see how emotions, such as fear, manifest through a person’s body. Making an appearance at the Busan International Film Festival alongside director Kore-eda and fellow child actor Hinata Hiiragi, Sōya Kurokawa, now age 14, who plays son Minato talks about the experience.

“I didn’t know how to act so the director gave me a lot of guidelines. He said to ‘feel the emotions’ of the character. That was very helpful. Normally, I don’t like talking – sometimes I get confused and have internal conflicts. I learned that it’s important to express emotions. It’s important to speak your mind.”

12-year-old Hiiragi, who plays his friend Yori insightfully adds, “When the perspective changes, the way we feel about something will change – that’s what I learned. To the Mom, something might look evil. And through the teacher, things change again. People can misunderstand things and judgment will change in the shoes of others.”

DEVELOPING DIFFERENTLY

From the first meeting, Kore-eda decided to maintain the script exactly, rather than adjusting to meet the actors. “I met the boys through an audition selection process. They stood out significantly and I immediately started to picture how we should create these characters.”

Having worked with child actors previously, he describes how he did things differently. “Typically, I would edit the script to match the characters with the personalities of the child actors, reflecting their natural use of language and speech patterns. But this time, we created just as we would with adult actors in the pre-production phase. I handed the script to them and we created each scene meticulously through table readings and rehearsals.”

With a story in three overlapping parts, details are key, ensuring reveals link together. “While I was shooting, the process was intriguing. The story itself is tricky – the audience is misled as the narrative unfolds. The structure leads audiences to take part from the characters’ viewpoint. As you discover new things, you question yourself. Just like the characters, we find ourselves among the condemners. We come to realize that we’re also standing on the side that pushes the boys into a corner.”

With this idea of the boys being forced into a corner hanging in the air, Kore-eda shares a final note on his intention as a story-teller. “Empathy is important, but I feel that there’s something more important, beyond empathizing with the two boys. I wanted this film to also make people question: What can we do as adults? What should we think as adults?”

 

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Have you watched Monster? Who or what feels like the monster to you? Click for more film festival stories, Japanese content, or interviews.

Read More: Monster Review | Monster (2023) Ending Explained