A Monster Calls
Director: J A Bayona
Stars: Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, Liam Neeson
Four stars
The relationship between mothers and sons in extreme situations proved fertile ground for director J A Bayona in his first two feature films, The Orphanage and The Impossible.
So who better for production company Focus Features to hire, when it bought the rights to Patrick Ness's acclaimed 2011 children's novel, A Monster Calls, than the talented Spaniard?
Based on an idea conceived by author Siobhan Dowd as she was battling terminal cancer, elegantly illustrated by Jim Kay, and shot through with wisdom and compassion, the book always seemed like a perfect fit for cinema. However, bringing it to the screen requires a filmmaker capable of making its blend of fantasy and everyday reality function as a cohesive and coherent whole – Bayona, working from a warm, insightful script by Ness, proves more than equal to the task.
At once intimate and spectacular, claustrophobic and expansive, A Monster Calls centres on a heart-wrenching performance by Scottish newcomer Lewis MacDougall as Conor O'Malley – a bullied 12-year-old struggling to cope with the fear that he will soon lose his mother (Felicity Jones) to cancer.
Plagued by a frightening recurring nightmare, and unable to find solace in the company of his imperious grandmother (Sigourney Weaver), he retreats into fantasy. One night, the yew tree in the cemetery atop a nearby hill rises from the Earth in a blizzard of sparks, strides down the hill and snatches Conor from his bedroom. A figure of seeming menace, the “monster” has, in fact, come to help the boy, and over several nights, tells him – in Liam Neeson’s sonorous, playful delivery – stories intended to help him make sense of his unarticulated feelings of confusion, anger, hurt, shame and guilt. The stories – portrayed as beautifully animated tales inspired by Kay’s illustrations – burst with colours that contrast with the muted palette of the chilly north of England setting of the live-action scenes, which looks like it is already in mourning. Pain bubbles through all the performances, and the tears that are guaranteed to flow during the heartbreaking denouement feel – despite a slightly manipulative score – honestly earned.
There is catharsis, but also the acknowledgement throughout the film that life is messy, that humans are paradoxical and conflicted creatures, that happy endings are never guaranteed, that it is unhealthy to suppress one’s pain, and that there are no quick-fixes for grief. This is a true must-see for adults and older children alike.
• A Monster Calls is in cinemas on Thursday, January 12
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