Monster's Ball
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Movie Reviews of Monster's Ball
Movie Review: Really 4 1/2 Stars, but that wasn't an option.
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked this. I'm buying it. I intend to use it for myself and for discussion with upperclassmen and grad students in lit courses.The film is very good work--one of very few films in a long, long time to achieve a measure of realism and drop the condescension towards racial tension in the south. While not completely free of stereotypes, the characters are much, much more believable. (How can you be more southern than Billy Bob Thornton? Apparently, you just point the camera at him and tell him what to talk about and it works smashingly.) The theme of the film, highlighted by its lack of revenge or heartbreak in the end, is redemption. Redeeming love, straight out of a baptist sunday school room. That's why Halle Berry suddenly realized everything but didn't go Fatal Attraction or Jackie Brown on him. That would have been cliche', and it damned sure wouldn't have been redemptive. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
Two minor gripes: Billy Bob's transformation occurs a little too quickly and too easily. A realistic change would have shown him begrudgingly associating with Halle Berry's character for awhile longer, even after the first coupling. Extreem reticence in tough southern males is a must-have for realism.
The other minor gripe is the featurette included on the home version of the film, the pseudo-genius trio of composers' explanation of how they were poetically inspired to respond to the story's arcs, etc. That's horse puckey.
They were hired because they worked cheaply and could pull together a knock-off of what you were really hearing, the musical style of Daniel Lanois. Am I the only one who doesn't hear what amounts to virtually theft of a major producer/performer's repertoire?
What the movie's haunted by on the first level is the history of the American South and the always unspoken truth behind racial violence, which was sexual tension. What it's haunted by in score and ambience is the spirit of Daniel Lanois, who should be looking in his mailbox for a paycheck for this stuff.
Billy Bob: Don't stop making films about real Southerners. We love it when you do that.
Movie Review: BBT has done it again.....and wonderfully at that!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is so over-the-top! I saw the film the day it was released nationwide. Hallie gave a stunning performance and deserved the Oscar. Billy Bob Thornton's performance was a work-of-art and I believe he also deserved an Oscar.
The actors in this film are able to make you 'forget' you are watching actors create a role. You seriously get the feeling that you're watching interaction between two ordinary people living extraodrinarily painful portions of their lives and undergoing major changes in their beliefs and emotions.
These performances were models of self-expression, but I have never seen that acting method better put-to-use (OK, maybe by BBT in Sling Blade, but that is a movie-unto-itself) than this touching movie.
As the changes in Thornton's character begin to evolve, I found a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes for a bitter man who was metamorphosing from a rude, bottled-up, miserable human being to a kind, caring man with a lot-to-give and a need that required a great deal of filling-up. These poignant feelings were often evoked with the speaking of painfully few words, but by speaking them in just the right tone and manner BBT was able to make that transformation real and believable.
Much has been made of the 'sex-scene' concerning the 'why', the 'how' it was filmed, etc. By filming the scene through the furniture, superimposed by the fan, etc. it became a touching portrayal of two people exchanging an unexpectedly intimate moment in a beautiful and passionate manner that was obviously unexpected and clearly new to each of them; rather than a crude, overtly gratuitous and raw-sex act. It was more about discovery, comfort, and emotional need than about the passion of sex.
While the movie may make some uncomfortable, it was very real, extremely thought-provoking, and in my mind a 'beautiful' movie. I urge those who avoid theaters and wait for release on Video/CD to buy this film as soon it is released. It is worth the wait you have had so far...and then some. I think you are going to want to view it more than once. I know I can't wait to get my copy and see it again.
Movie Review: A powerful story about HUMAN BEINGS
Summary: 5 Stars
I have held my tongue (keyboard?) for a long time, but this is a comment for all of you who seem to think that all the movies with actual human characters rather than cardboard cutouts are "sooo slooow" and "sooo looong" and boring. GET an ATTENTION SPAN! I can't imagine anyone could find this film dull or slow. Yes, it is "deliberately" paced, for it is a story about change, and change does not happen quickly. Perhaps those who found it boring are so jaded by action movies and alienated from any real human feeling that they can't relate to the material. If any of you must give a film a negative review, please try to point out what was wrong with the theme, concept or execution (no pun intended). Otherwise just watch a couple hours of rock videos and spare the rest of us who like to see films with scenes longer than five or six frames each.I find this to be an excellent film, very powerful. I have a high tollerance of powerful material (The Wild Bunch is my favorite film), but it was tough for me to get through the first 3/4 hour. In the end it all resolves (or doesn't) in a grace note so simple and beautiful that I was stunned.
lastly, I stated earlier that this was a film about change, but the change in the film is a small adjustment, not fundamental. Hank is not a racist character who falls in love with a Black Woman. It is clear from the first frame that he is not really a racist, or if he is, a halfhearted one. He has a stubborn streak of human decency that is there all along. He turns to Berry's character because he has a need for human contact that is as raw as hers, and she is there in front of him. What begins as animal sexual release becomes something else. Note his frightened, frenzied desparation when she peels out and drives away, it is only after he has come to care for her that he realises how dead he was inside. Hank doesn't really change. He merely begins to shed the uglier aspects of himself, because they pale in comparison to his need. Thornton is great as usual, and though I wish Naomi Watts had at least been nominated, Berry richly deserved her award.
Movie Review: Tragedy is not the end of hope
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was not a big favorite with audiences so I knew there had to be something meaningful in it that the shallow public could not see or was not able to see or perhaps refused to see.
It has one of the loveliest soundtracks I've ever heard which clings to the soul with a lingering and misty melancoly.
A movie for for those who have known suffering.
The Monster's Ball is a very bleak film yet it's also quite rare in that it's truly unpredictable.
You won't find Hollywood trappings here. This is an Indy film, thoughtful with symbolism and a profound message. This movie caused a knee jerk reaction in parts of the black community, causing calls for boycotting and some racial tension.
Simply put, a white racist death row prison guard, through a set of tragic and complex circumstances, begins to fall in love with the black wife of an inmate that he recently executed, of which she is totally unaware. Their anguished bond is the fact that they both have lost young sons.
There is some blunt sexual content, however it's mainly queasy and uncomfortably painful rather than erotic. Still, this motion picture is not intended for children.
This movie somehow captures the mood of yearning reconcillation between two devastated souls
who discover they have absolutely nowhere else left to turn, except to each other.
This is a startling "feel bad" movie that is able to say: tragedy will not be permitted to become the end of all hope. Rather it states: When you're at the end of your rope, letting go can be the best thing you can do.
Ultimately consoling in a way that seeks to unlock a warm, rainy night in your heart where abandoned innocence is finally given a chance to be regained.
Atmospheric and moody with a poetic and mystical resolution that leaves you with a mesmerizing shimmer of hope.
"The title comes from a custom in medieval England where prisoners awaiting execution were called monsters. The night before their execution, their jailers would hold a feast known as a monster's ball as their final farewell." (Wikipedia)
Movie Review: "They call it the Monster's Ball."
Summary: 5 Stars
"Monster's Ball" is the kind of film that very often doesn't get made. It characters are unlikable at first glance, it deals heavily with racism, death, and sex. It is a small miracle then that Marc Forster was able to deliver this very special motion picture to us.Set in the urban wasteland of the modern south, "Monster's Ball" at first concerns itself with the lives of Hank, played by Billy Bob Thornton, and his son Sonny, played by Heath Ledger. Father and son both work as correction officers, often in charge of administering the death penalty. Both lead empty, joyless lives, largely as the result of their bigoted upbringings. ....
The acting in this film is glorious. Billy Bob Thornton creates in Hank a man who seems incapable of love, but is very vulnerable underneath his exterior of hatred. Halle Berry gives a raw and real performance as Leticia, daring to make the audience hate her. She is a bad mother and a failure, but she also has a deep well of love and a determination to survive. Heath Ledger gives a surprisingly layered performance as the hopeless Sonny. He is only on screen for a short time, but plays against type and makes Sonny a very haunted young man. Sean Combs also does well as Leticia's doomed husband, a man who has long since repented for his sins. Peter Boyle also strikes a nerve as the vulgar and bigoted father of Hank.
"Monster's Ball" does not dwell on the consequences of an interracial relationship in the South. It is an intense, heartbreakingly beautiful film that tells the uncompromised and utterly real story of two very flawed and human people who have lost everything, but somehow manage to find comfort in each other's arms. Maybe that is the most important thing about "Monster's Ball." Hank and Leticia never declare their love for one another. They simply feel a comfort with each other, a bond that goes beyond love. When they are together, they hurt a little less. Leticia begs Hank to "make me feel good."
Hank and Leticia may never feel good, but at least they feel better. And they realize that maybe there is a future for them, after all.