2016 · drama · fantasy · family
A Monster Calls
Directed by J. A. Bayona1h 48m2016
12-year-old Conor encounters an ancient tree monster who proceeds to help him cope with his mother's terminal illness and being bullied in school.
Our read: A Monster Calls (2016) reads as a sombre, steady, inventive drama · fantasy · family entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Sombre, steady, measured drama / fantasy, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- intense
- inventive
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How A Monster Calls feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want fantasy fable craft in service of honest grief and growing up.”
Skip it tonight — Skip if stories about parental illness and childhood fear will undo you.
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