Movieman Madness: Cinema Spotlight III - J.A. Bayona (Part 3): 'A Monster Calls'

This is the story of man who told two amazing stories. His next story would be a continuation of a war against the agents of the undead but fate had different plans. Circumstances lead to that story remian untold and to tell another continuation of extinct creatures now newly resurrected. But before he could tell that story he had to to tell his third story first.

There once was a boy named Connor O"Malley (Lewis MacDougall) who lived with his terminally-ill mother(Felicity Jones). It drove the boy livid and filled with grief. He isolated himself and refused to speak. His grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) visited but their relationship was cold as ice. Much to the boy's surprise his father (Toby Kebbell), who had left him and his mother long ago also dropped by. Both adults were here to see the boy's mother, one last time they thought, but Connor wouldn't have it and couldn't accept it. Then at 12:07 sharp, in the dark of the night, the old yew tree outside an old church sprung to life. The branches twisted into arms and the stump formed into legs, with eyes burning as hot fire. His dialogue was more fluent than of another sentient tree who could only utter his name. The monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) had come for young Connor. Not to eat him but to tell him a story. Three stories. Once the monster finished his stories Connor would tell the fourth and it would be the truth, the tree exclaims.

This image alone is why Bayona was the perfect choice to do Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

This craftsmanship of Juan Antonio Bayona comes in full circle in A Monster Call's. Each of his work invoked a feeling of fear. The fear of losing someone close to you. A mother afraid of losing her only son in an orphanage with a haunting past. A family separated by raging waters afraid of losing each other. But what if it didn't matter? What if fate had decided that the person you hold dear, would be taken away forever and nothing you did could change that. How do you confront such a fear?

Like Jurassic Park, a real model of the monster was created adding to the realism of the creature and the interactions with the actors. A technique that Bayona plan's to use in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

That is the question explored by A Monster Call's. It function's like a parable where the answers aren't straightforward and confusing at first but underneath as the monster say's it carries truth.

“Stories are important, the monster said. They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth.”

The movie struck a chord with me on that level as it applies not just written stories one read's but the one's we watch on screen and how much truth it can say.

Bayona paints this movie with masterful stokes that it echoes the somber and almost child-like wonder that I felt when watching Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are and Brad Bird's The Iron Giant. All which originated from an existing story though in the case of A Monster Call's, the original idea was conceived by author Siobhan Dowd but died before she could finish. It was passed down to writer Patrick Ness who completed the story as well as contribute to the screenplay.

Beautiful watercolor animation was utilized in telling the monster's stories.

A Monster Calls is a children's story presented for adults that like a child, speak many truths that we grown-ups tend to forget or refuse to believe.

"...humans are complicated beasts. You believe comforting lies, while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary. In the end, Conor, it is not important what you think. It is only important what you do

Geraldine Chaplin Cameo:

While having a bigger role in the book the headmistress has only one scene played by Bayona regular Geraldine Chaplin where she talks with Conner after an incident in the cafeteria.

Behind-the-scenes