Monster is largely a story about how Black kids are so often failed by the system, but it also poses questions about the tricks memory can play on people, and about how easily human behavior can be misread because of ingrained racism. He also channels the threads of guilt Steve feels for his unintentional role in the crime for which he’s on trial, one that left a bodega owner dead. It’s simply that she doesn’t know what else to do Hudson wears those feelings of helplessness like a mourning veil.Īnd Harrison-who has given fine performances in pictures like Julius Onah’s Luce and Trey Edward Shults’ Waves-doesn’t just convey Steve’s youthful vulnerability. We see that this isn’t normal for either of them, that even if Steve’s mother is essentially a believer, she doesn’t view the Scripture as any sort of cure-all. Steve’s discomfort is palpable as she reads a Bible verse aloud. In one sequence, Hudson’s character visits her son in prison, expressing a sense of failure-she never made him go to church, and now she has convinced herself that was bad parenting. Instead, we see him shielding his face from the world, the release of tension visible as if a spring has uncoiled in his body. In a late scene we see him shedding tears-except we don’t see the actual tears.

Wright’s character is a graphic designer who delights in the fact that his son shares his enthusiasm for the golden ratio. The scenes with the fewest frills work the best, particularly those involving Wright and Hudson, many of which are flashbacks that show the family dynamic at work. Too much filmmaking is sometimes worse than bad filmmaking.

With his multiple not-so-clever tricks, Mandler-who has made music videos for the likes of the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna and Taylor Swift-unintentionally saps this story of energy and power. Empty.” The camera lingers on the jurors’ blandly hostile faces this crew seems freshly graduated from Jury Acting School 101. As the jury files in, we hear in voice-over what Steve is thinking: “Enter the jury-various ages, races, a random assortment of humans with eyes that move like animals. Monster is weighed down by a novelty it doesn’t need: Because Steve is a young filmmaker-he’s a student at prestigious Stuyvesant High School-Mandler approaches the material as if it were a film Steve himself were making (though he appears to drop the conceit about midway through).

Monster walter dean myers graphic novel