By Emilio Frenk.
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, James Melville, Ben Moore, Geraldine Chaplin and Liam Neeson.
Rating: Excellent.
J.A. Bayona, director of “The Orphanage” and “The Impossible” brings “ A Monster Calls” and without a doubt this is a fantastic film.
Based on the novel by Patrick Ness from an original idea from Siobhan Dowd, “ A Monster Calls” tells the story of Connor O’ Malley (Lewis MacDougall) a young boy who currently is dealing with the terminal illness of his mother (Felicity Jones) and gets bullied constantly at school.
Connor’s life will change when a Yew Tree Monster (Liam Neeson) visits him at midnight and tells him three stories that not only will change Connor’s life but will help him fix his unhappy life and deal with his anger.
“A Monster Calls” not only is great fantasy movie but an amazing and real drama. J.A. Bayona once again directed a beautiful movie with a deep and profound message that deals with anger and resentment, which have been topics in modern society but he portrayed it in a way that has never been seen.
The screenplay written by Patrick Ness who also wrote the novel has a lot of similarities with the book it´s real and profound. Ness wrote the screenplay with every single detail and had the advantage that he knew the story from head to toe.
The performance by young Lewis MacDougall is astonishing as well as Felicity Jones who had a fantastic 2016 and did movies like “Rogue One: A Star Wars Shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Xbo-irtBAtory” and now “A Monster Calls”. She portrays Connor’s mom with so much realism and you feel identified with the character and you buy the fact that she is a mother dealing with an illness and at the same time she loves her son.
The cinematography by Oscar Faura was outstanding and the way he played with the camera specially with the moments that Connor was with the monster was engaging and the contrast the movie plays with works at all levels.
The monster was beutifully created and the special and visual effects of the movie work at all levels.
I noticed that “ A Monster Calls” has many Steven Spielberg moments and you can tell that Bayona was influenced by Spielberg’s style since it has similarities from his previous work by in the 80’s and part of the 90’s.
This movie was sweet, tender and I do believe that you will leave the theater in tears since it will make you cry.
With that being said “A Monster Calls” is a winner and I give it a huge recommendation for it’s directing, acting and moving message.