For once, Hirokazu Kore-eda didn’t know what was coming around the corner as he began reading the script for “Monster,” an event that in and of itself could be seen as unexpected when the director has only made films based on screenplays he had written himself since his feature debut “Maborosi.” But Yuki Sakamoto, an accomplished writer that had come into the industry around the same time Kore-eda had, had made it known long ago that he had wanted to work with the director of “Shoplifters” and the feeling had been mutual, yet it only seemed fair that before the writer could throw him a few curveballs in the script for what would become “Monster,” Kore-eda would deliver one of his own.
“Normally when people approach me like that, I say, “Well, let me read it first,” Kore-eda said recently with the help of a translator. “But when my producer suggested that Mr. Sakamoto wanted me to direct this and I said at the time I would read the plot treatment, but I’d already decided that I would like to do the movie.”
Anyone who has followed the director since he walked away from Cannes in 2018 with a Palme D’Or has known that he hasn’t rested on his laurels, changing things up from one production to the next, whether it’s working in a different language, first in French with “The Truth” and subsequently in Korean with “Broker,” a different medium with television series “A Day Off of Kasumi Arimura” and “The Makanai,” or in the case of “Monster,” from a screenplay he didn’t originate. Not only could the director find himself inspired by new perspectives, but in “Monster,” he makes a captivating film about it as the drama concerns a fifth grader Minato (Soya Kurokawa), who is sent home from school when he is accused of bullying his classmate Yori (Hinata Hiiragi) by their teacher Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama), yet the film is divided into three sections that show the situation is far less cut-and-dried upon Minato’s mother Saori (Sakura Ando) starting to ask questions of the school’s principal (Yuko Tanaka) to find out why her son has been suspended.
Between Kore-eda’s savvy use of the frame and Sakamoto’s shrewd understanding of how perception is shaped by hearsay and gossip, “Monster” evolves into a staggeringly taut and well-observed portrait of perspective, watching characters both young and old be hugely impressionable as they attempt to keep their standing in school, whether on the playground or in their positions on the faculty, and susceptible to forming conclusions based on specious evidence. With the director applying his traditionally delicate touch with child actors as he has in such films as “Nobody Knows” and “I Wish,” the film magnificently captures innocence in the friendship that develops between Minato and Yori to give even greater weight to what is lost when no truth can be accepted by all, and featuring what would be some of the legendary composer Ryuchi Sakamoto’s final original compositions for the screen after it was his piano that Kore-eda heard while he was scouting for locations, “Monster” presents social complexities with grace.
As “Monster” becomes one of Kore-eda’s widest American releases to date, the director recently spoke about how changing things up has been a crucial component to his career, the adjustments he had to make on his latest film to fulfill its potential and his collaboration with the late great musician Sakamoto.
Was it exciting for you to approach something as a director without having the idea live in your head first as a writer?
Of course, the the structure as well as the personages that were created in this script were things that I couldn’t have done myself, so it was very interesting for me to be able to work with a slightly different method.
From what I understand, that extended to working with the young actors who traditionally haven’t had a formal script to work with until they’re on set. Did that change things for you?
It’s not that I have a fast rule of not giving children actors a script, but I think normally they can relax more and their acting is better if I give verbal instruction [on set[ and then they can say the words themselves. For the audition, I tried it both ways and then when I asked which way these child actors would want to work, and they both said that they would rather have the script, so I try to behave in the way the children want.
Is it true that you allowed them to decorate the abandoned bus they turn into a clubhouse? What’s it like letting them have their own connection to the material?
They did work on the things to display there, but also in the classrooms. The calligraphy or the drawings that were on the walls were all drawn and written by the children who appeared in the film, and I try to always do that — to have the children be very comfortable in their surroundings. Of course, the art department did work on creating this rail car that was abandoned for 10 years to make it look very run down, but the children were the ones who designed and created the pieces that were hanging there and the [drawings of] dinosaurs. Also that card game that they played where they put it on their forehead, those drawings were all done by the child actors as well.
You’ve said you initially had plans to film in Tokyo along a river, but had to adapt to this location, which has become such an important part of the film. What was it like to make that change?
Yes, of course, it was a major change from having it alongside a river to [set] beside a lake [and it made] a large difference in the structure of the film. I also searched for an elementary school that looked down over onto the lake, and I think if it had been a river, we wouldn’t have been able to find such a elementary school at a height above. That was one of another aspect that was important in the film.
Was it interesting to develop a filming style when the film deals with perspective and what is seen and what isn’t seen?
With the cinematographer [Ryuto] Kondo, we discussed how to show the scenes and I wanted to make sure that the entire world wasn’t being shown in the frame, so we avoided those kinds of wide views and only saw what the specific people on the screen were seeing. That was our intent. And the third part [of the film] where the children were the main actors, I wanted to show a lot of movement because children move around a lot and the children run around and play, so we discussed [how] that would be an essential element as well.
The other recurring motif in the film is actually an aural one – this sound of a trumpet and French horn that plays in the background of each chapter at the school until you finally see where it’s emanating from. What was it that struck a chord with you?
When I first read the plot, I took as the climax of the film, these two people who can’t say in words what they really are thinking or really want to say, but can express themselves by playing the music together. It was a very important scene and I thought it would be very important for me as a director how to present that scene. When I sent the DVD to Ryuchi Sakamoto with the scene of the music room in it, he understood that that was a very important scene [too], and he said, “I want to be able to write some of the music so that I don’t get in the way of that music room scene,” so I think he understood too. He got the point that I had gotten when I first read the story within his idea of what the music should be.
What was it like to actually get music cues from him? They have an extra poignancy now as one of his final works and you’ve said the film wouldn’t have any music at all if it wasn’t from him.
Well, because of his physical condition, I wasn’t sure how much he could do. But when I approached him about the music, he said he had a couple of tunes that came to his mind that he thought might fit, so he sent me a letter saying he could at least compose those couple of tunes. And that was very humbling for me. I really appreciated that. I was very worried because he had told me that he would release an album called “12″ as his last composition if he couldn’t finish [the pieces of music for the film] and he had told me to use the album. But in the end, he did] make two songs [specifically for the film] and he let me use the music from “12,”and then he was able to see, at least music-wise, what we had put into the film, so it was a very satisfactory ending.
It was so beautiful and something I’ve admired about you so much over these last few years is how you consistently challenge yourself, Whether it’s filming in a different language or working on a long-form project like “The Makanai” or working with a screenwriter for the first time in a while. Has that been important to keep things fresh?
Yes. Very important. Keeping a sense of freshness is very valuable to the work that I do. But these different challenging types of projects were something that I started recently. I see that you have “I Wish” there on your shelf, and that was actually a request that came to me [of someone] saying, “Would I be able to do a film that uses the Shinkansen bullet train that was going to be opening in that area?” And that was actually a fun and interesting project for me to do. So I realized that it’s not wrong to do projects that aren’t all my own idea, my own script, and my own direction, and using only my own material. I am willing to be more open-minded and flexible, especially as I age, and have enjoyed doing those projects.
“Monster” is now in theaters across the U.S.