Sometimes from the very beginning, you doubt which type of review to choose: write a negative one? - Yes, someone can pass by the film, but it is a pity, it is worth seeing; give a positive one? - The hand does not rise - it is strange to assess positively what is negative in essence; is there a neutral option? - there, but it is good to use such a remotely when you have a clear alternative to black and white representation or, when just before the lamp, you are so above emotions and charged with prudence. I don't think I'm going to make a choice.
That is, the film is ambiguous and if you generalize, it is about loneliness, about what compromises with conscience, what convention with the world and an individual being named & #39; a person & #39; you can go to find the coveted comfort zone in the field of living space. But there are, as they say, nuances. The case takes place in a country where the profession of executioner and the problem of racism remain unextinct. It was from this that the filmmakers decided to push back, putting topical issues at the forefront of their work, in order to then develop the main theme of loneliness.
From the very beginning, the viewer is dipped in the details of everyday life of an ordinary family of employees in the punitive and executive system. Grandfather, father and grandson are all three executioners. A pensioner's grandfather, a domestic tyrant, a hardened racist. A father hates his own son, because he does not justify his father’s aspirations or inspire him with the expected pride. Both are sometimes served at different times by the same prostitute, satisfying themselves with her help in the same pose for the same dachshund. From time to time, they kill people at work. Normal. The father is the senior member of the prison executioner team, conducting instructions with its members before the execution of the next sentence. They need ' perform' one Negro who has a young wife alone unable to cope with housing, always running in search of a new job and a son, obese black teenager who inherited the talent of the criminal father to draw without inheriting his negative qualities.
I do not tell you further, but the fates of two heroes - Henk (the executioner father) and Letishia (a black widow with a son) - will suddenly intertwine, like the fate of a giraffe with an antelope (' What happened in Africa' Vysotsky) and strangely turn on each other.
In classifying this film as a melodrama genre, there is something ironic. It's like melodrama in the panopticum. And the whole movie is specific. But some lessons can be learned from it. The review is, after all, green. And it will not be boring if you are ready to plunge into it, of course.
7 out of 10
Overall impression: Life is unpredictable, you never know what awaits you tomorrow. Hank (Billy Bob Thor) is proud of his rare profession and expects his son Sonny (Heath Ledger) to continue the family dynasty. For several generations, men in their family have been working as executioners, including the electric chair switch during execution. In one of the executions, Hank's son becomes ill, thereby ruining the last passage to the prisoner (according to his father). Hank is outraged by Sonny's behavior, but he doesn't know what he'll say or how his son would behave if he only knew. At this time, the plot broadcasts another story in parallel: Letizia (Halley Berry) and her son live in a small rented apartment. A woman works hard because her husband is executed by electric chair. One day, Letitia and her son go home and a terrible thing happens. But fate throws her acquaintance with Hank. What is it? A new beginning? Or is it a bad joke?
The drama is saturated with sad events, as if laughing at the heroes. A tart aftertaste is felt literally in every episode. Everyone here is unhappy, and everyone is struggling with their own inner monsters. The story is interesting to watch, the more the narrative throws changed characters. Hank changes his character and realizes he doesn’t want to live the life he is living. And Letizia under the pressure of circumstances does not give up, becomes stronger every day.
In 2002, the film won an Academy Award for Best Actress (Halley Berry). And if you still think that Berry is a "so-so-actress," then I highly recommend watching this movie. Hallie's brilliant! So play a desperate woman. She's shocked, she's sad! You will see a multifaceted character who experiences a whole range of emotions, feel it! Excellent! Halle, you deserved the Oscar!
“Monsters’ Ball” is a sad movie, dreary, but it is worth watching: chic caste, great emotional plot, good camera work. What else is needed?
Monsters’ Ball is the term used in American prisons for the last day of a convicted person before execution. On this day, he eats and fulfills his last wish.
The Grotowski family, three men: grandfather, son and grandson, are all unmarried. They're hereditary wardens in a high-security prison. In addition, they are the executioners – those people who prepare a person for execution by electric chair and execute him with all the accompanying rituals. And life for men is very bleak. Grandfather (Peter Boyle) is retired, a hardened racist and grouchy. The son (Billy Bob Thornton) is a depressed man who has been feeling nothing in his life for a long time. He has only a job in this life and hatred for his son, who “went to his mother” and, in his opinion, is a nanny and poorly fulfills his duties as a guard-executioner. The son (Heath Ledger) of the Trinity is the only more or less living character, but under the yoke of his father and grandfather, he gradually breaks down. And he does not want to become like them, besides, he suffers from his father’s dislike, while harboring warm feelings for him. And it would seem that their gray life is full of some hopelessness and depression, but at some point there is a tragic event-trigger that triggers a chain of other events and changes in their lives and characters.
Very good drama. All the actors played well, and although Halle Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress, I liked Billy Bob Thornton more. By the way, Berry is known for her views on racial discrimination and has already eaten political correctness. And one of the themes of the film deals specifically with black issues, so it is not surprising that the Oscar was awarded to her. No, she's pretty and she's pretty good, and there's been a couple of bed scenes with her, so it's worth a look, but Oscar? I don't know, I don't know.
The film is kept at the right pace and proportions. Despite the fact that the action here is leisurely, and the atmosphere and mood of the film are gray and depressing, it does not slide into blackness, does not forcefully press on a tear. The film makes the right accents and therefore looks very natural. In addition, it shows several topics, there is a good and correct message. I liked the ending very much, it turned out very well. I was afraid that now there would be a great happy ending or a great tragedy of everything and everything, but no, the authors did well. Even the notorious theme of political correctness here does not stand out with all its might and does not pedal – everything is very smooth and moderate.
A good drama about loneliness, hopelessness and the fact that a person is the smith of his happiness and that everything can always be changed. No, not to become a great optimist, superhero and billionaire at the snap of your fingers, but to direct your life in a different direction, experience happiness and help others is quite possible. Good acting, the right proportions of drama without excesses, a good message.
Who should not watch: those who do not like depressive, gray, heavy and leisurely films. But again, this is not a black woman, not a tragedy and there is quite a place for good feelings.
8 out of 10
The “Monster Ball” by German Mork Forster became a precedent and a certain measure of political correctness in the cinema. Are there hidden behind a dense wall of awards that have become a parable of candid scenes, posthumous interest in Ledger and a powerful African-American lobby that supports Halle Berry and actively changes Hollywood something really worthwhile?
The first ever black woman raised too much dust with her dress, accepting the Oscar for Best Actress. This dust, along with cries of undeserved awards, the triumph of political correctness, racial scandals and other husks, sometimes prevents an adequate assessment of the film, which has actually become a symbol of “dislike” reigning in the happy pink-cheeked one-story America watching from TV screens, billboards and glossy magazines.
"Monster Ball" is permeated with dislike, cold indifference, disgust, hopeless longing. The sultry American south turns out to be stuffy, intolerant, saturated with hatred, mortal boredom and gaping spiritual emptiness. Forster managed to make us feel that emptiness almost physically. Sweaty pig snouts chew fast food fat in half-empty cheap diners, obese prison guards phlegmatically watch the driven suicide bombers, lifelessly looks somewhere into the space apathetic executioner Hank Grotowski, living only his endless hatred for everything that surrounds him - the elderly living dead dad, vile work, brazen blacks, bastard weather and even the only son who irritates him with his perhaps age-related lack of hatred.
This town is dead. People are dead. Life forgot to leave its wonderful imprint here. Death attracts death... Raised by a tyrant father in hatred, Hank, deprived of maternal love (mother preferred death, not to tolerate the abuse of her husband), grew up a bastard. But he's not a canonical bastard, not a classic antihero. He's just -- like everyone else. And that's the scariest thing about Forster's movie. And only the "happy" accident in the form of a hysterical suicide of his son does not allow him to become the same bastard, and Hank has something inciting in a half-dead soul.
It's a very strong movie. And he is strong not by interracial relations, but by a picture of piercing, truly Marquesian loneliness, and hatred, which poisons life on the whole Earth. This is what makes the film outstanding - along with stingy emotions, tough, not shy of anything production of Forster, gray, as if tired color palette, almost inaudible music, amazingly accurate and perfectly lying in the box of the film playing Billy Bob Thornton.
Whoever should have been nominated for an Oscar is his. He did a great job playing a man with such a terrible discord inside. Some exalted ladies who came to watch a romantic film with their beloved Ledger were immensely disappointed by the “sluggish” and “dull”. Thornton. What the hell should a person look like when almost everything has died, on the level of feelings and sensations? A past you want to forget and a future you don’t have. What emotions do you want from a person who is used to everything and always hide deep in yourself? Thornton drags the whole film with the truth of character, the vitality of the image, the deepest living in his character - contradictory, somewhere disgusting, even unnatural, but absolutely real!
Yes, his passion for this black woman is devoid of romance. Yes, he doesn't understand what's burning him from the inside, and how to live with everything he's understood and felt, yes, this flash - between self-bitten beasts - is like revenge on his father for a broken life. Is that love? Even if it is love, this person will never say it. He can't. He's unscientific. But the main thing that Thornton showed is a profound and serious change in a man who was feral with loneliness and hatred, which became the consequences of the tragedy that shocked him and gave him a chance to start life from scratch.
Halle Berry's character isn't that simple either. This is not the angel that a black woman in a racist American outback might seem. She's also full of despair and hate, like Thornton's hero. She too rushes like a wolf in a cage, not knowing which bars to throw herself at. One against the whole world is a hated society that makes her a second-class person, a job, a gangster husband who made her miserable, even a son who, on the basis of endless stress, turns into a fluctuating carcass of fat and also prevents her from living. Then she says to herself, “I was a good mother!” I was a good mother. No, she wasn't. You weren't and couldn't be. You were all raised by hate. It has penetrated every cell in your body, taught you to put up with it, possessed your mind, tied your hands, prevented you from thinking and took away the desire to fight.
Heroes systematically get rid of all that bothered them – in fact, from hatred – and learn to look at the world without this overwhelming feeling. Let there be such quasi-love of the two Frankenstein monsters, artificially created by society and absorbing its laws, as hatred.
Berry, by the way, played great. Oscar or not Oscar – it is not for me to decide, this award sometimes went to the less worthy. Perhaps, yes, politicized turned out Oscar, not all succeeded former Miss Ohio. For example, the transitions between the state of clinical frenetic pain from losing everything she had and accepting it seemed to me unfinished. Berry is probably too beautiful for the role. And yet, she had something to play. She grew up with a white single mother who gave birth to a black man who then returned to the family, but only to humiliate and beat his wife and daughters. And in the vast majority of her scenes, she was truthful and yes, she rushed into this difficult role fearlessly, after Angela Bassett refused - not afraid of either serious preparation or unbridled sexual scenes.
This is a psychologically very accurate, verified film about broken people (and perfectly played their heroes Peter Boyle and Heath Ledger are also broken and crushed), battling with themselves and blossoming in themselves colors of hatred, fear, loneliness, anger. The topic of discrimination here is frankly secondary, Forster does not allow the film to slide into cheap melodramatism or moralization, he just gives his characters a chance, and what they choose after everything that life has done to them will be their choice. God willing, they will. In the end, not everything is lost, as in all of us. In each of us there is a Hank, and sometimes Letisha, sometimes old Buck or impulsive Sonny - don't we deserve a little happiness? Forster leads his characters to a true catharsis, and with it the viewer, who, I hope, can not remain indifferent to this vital, powerful, realistic, human drama about dislike, loneliness, spirituality and the chance to escape from their tenacious paws.
10 out of 10
A film about prison. Not in the sense that one of the heroes sits in it, two others work, two more visit husband and father for eleven years, and the last one pulled the strap all his life until retirement. This is about the prison in which people are imprisoned by the will of fate, carry it on themselves without meekness. Like a snail's house. And thinking about not letting go. It can't be because it can never be. There are three works that man can do for the world: creation, preservation and destruction. All three are important. If you are a destroyer, so be it.
Can we do that? Your father was a prison guard, performing the role of executioner against those executed by the electric chair. You are. My son will continue the tradition. Work as work: not the lowest level of welfare, social benefits, socially approved. And this, this is all sentiment. And when they appear in the son, for example, you can always explain to him: You look so much like your mother now, you were a poor woman. As your father explains in moments of discontent with you.
All my life. They're served by a whore. Son and father. I would have used my grandfather when I was able to take this kind of service. There is also a tradition in this family, its members from time to time commit suicide. Without imagining, without assuming that you can get out in another way. You know, when executed in the electric chair, it is absolutely necessary to soak the sponge with water, which is placed under the helmet of the executed person. Water acts as a conductor, a person dies almost instantly. If this is not done, the torment stretches indefinitely, turning into frying from the inside. Hank's son wasn't fit for the job. Therefore, due to negligence, forgetfulness or misunderstanding, he did not do exactly what he was obliged to do. Torturously killed a man who had become pretty to him. But within the range of relationships proposed by fate, the only thing he could do for him was kill as painlessly as possible.
This is because everything came together at one point: one’s own worthlessness, the dislike of one’s neighbors, the inability to find a way out, passion. That's why the son shoots himself. But you can't bring it back. Now a woman. What's wrong with her? The husband waited eleven years for execution in prison, the son eats sorrows with sweets and looks like a mountain of lard. But he is a teenager, with all the teenage desires, with a need for communication beyond reasonable limits, who would want to communicate with him? A talented boy and loves his mother, but nothing, nothing she can give him. Scattering like a fish on ice. There is no decent work, and it is not kept on indecent ones; the mortgaged house loses; the car dies of old age.
Everywhere you look, there's hopelessness. And then the boy gets hit by a car. To death. And the only one trying to do anything is Hank. Murphy's Law: If something can happen, it happens, no far-fetched coincidence. There are things like that in life. A scorched desert inside one. The frozen arctic landscape is different, and a person is a creature that gravitates to the comfort zone: heat, light and air. And all of a sudden, it turns out that you can get out of a local prison you made for you. Together.
Honestly, a brief description of this tape, for some reason, I was not at all inspired. The story seemed dull and faded. However, now, after watching this wonderful tape, I can confidently say that it is a very good drama.
In the beginning, it will seem that the whole point lies in what seems to be the most beloved topic of American directors - the problem of racism in America. But, firstly, the director of the picture is German, and, secondly, the story, although it touches on this topic, in fact, is not about this at all.
Of course, this tape is about love and help, about the fact that even the most terrible sinners have the right to happiness, although, as it seemed to me, quite imaginary.
It's a very heavy movie. Provided that you do not see any visually terrible scenes, morally terrible scenes in it abound. And in many ways, these scenes, which permeate through the soul, turned out just like this thanks to the wonderful performance of the actors. Halle Berry, who I never considered a super-actress, opened up to me in a whole new way in this film. The Oscar for this role is well deserved. But it is worth noting that other characters of the tape are interesting. Especially, of course, remember the main character, played by Thornton, and the character of Ledger, which in the film is not so much, but because his presence on the screen is no less significant.
The film is not recommended for people who are depressed. Since, no matter how twisted, having, in general, a positive ending, the film “drops” the viewer into such sadness and longing that it is time to howl. But, the story is truly wonderful and the movie looks with pleasure and interest.
' Ball of Monsters' is, first of all, one of those films for viewing which requires an appropriate mood, a certain emotional state, coming to which, the viewer will feel the depth of this kind of work. He will catch the smallest mental anxieties that grow in the soul of the main characters and lead them to shudder, then to some inhibition, torpor, then to subtle fluctuations of despondency.
The atmosphere and emotions of the characters are the main component on the foundation of which the whole film is built. And, of course, how much the feeling of its strength, hardness depends on the perception of the viewer.
Heroes do not show those colored 'loud' grief, pretentious emotions. Quite the opposite. Instead, they try to hide them within themselves, as if giving themselves to the pain. Characters come into retardation, fading, almost without showing fits of despair, as if from the impossibility, powerlessness and unwillingness to realize their loss, they did not notice how a silent cry paralyzed them, in one sudden moment stunning them. Restraining to speak out in any way, to wake up.
Grief brings the main characters closer together, extolling them with a chance to forget in each other and not be ashamed to show their wounds, weaknesses.
If you are a person who now has to endure disturbing times of his life or experiences that bother you, this film is for you.
With his slow rhythm, full of peace, he may not only calm you down, but also evoke the melody of a quiet lullaby song, capable, despite its notes of anxiety, of putting you to sleep.
"This is my son's car." I am sure that he would be happy if someone used it. I just can't take it. -- Hank and Leetia
Monsters Ball is the first film to bring fame to German-born director Mark Forster. Before that, there was an independent film with a budget of only $100,000 All Together with Rada Mitchell, which nevertheless appeared in the European film market. After the “Monsters’ Ball” Forster directed such famous films as “Magic Country”, “Quantum of Mercy” (another part of the immortal “bond” with Olga Kurylenko as a superspy girl) and “World War Z”. But for the most part, the fame of the film “Monsters’ Ball” was achieved due to the fact that Halle Berry, who played the main female role in it, became the first woman with black skin to win an Oscar, ahead of such famous actresses as Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Judy Dench and Sissy Spacek.
Was "Monsters Ball" and the second nomination for "Oscar" - in the category "Best Screenplay", and the statuette had the opportunity to get debutants Milo Addick and Will Rocos. And for their debut, they chose a story that tells the story of three generations of executioners, prison officers, pressing the switch on death row prisoners. The eldest of them is Buck Grotowski (Peter Boyle), a racist who poisons the lives of his son Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and grandson Sonny (Heath Ledger). In their house everything is troubled, hatred and evil reign there and soon all this turns into a tragic incident. After that, Buck’s views on the world change, he already treats blacks differently, even helps the woman Letizia Musgrove (Holly Berry), with whom he begins to connect not only a love interest, but also two other extremely tragic cases that are unlikely to leave the viewer indifferent.
I have to admit that I had some doubts about winning Halle Berry’s Oscar. The struggle for tolerance and equality transcends logical boundaries and the sense that the award is already being handed out by members of the jury without being seen as homophobic or racist. But when I watched Monsters’ Ball and saw Halle Berry playing in the film, I clearly understood that the actress deservedly received the most prestigious award in the world of cinema. There's so much drama I haven't seen in a long time. These were real experiences and emotions, even in the way she sits, the way she smokes, there is a real nature, not a play. Moreover, Halle Berry put her “virginity” on the altar of art: more frank scenes with the actress can not be seen anywhere, but this is not a way to draw attention to her person, this was demanded by the film and Halle Berry with honor passed the test. Once again, I emphasize that I am confident in the correctness of choosing Halle Berry as the winner at the Oscars.
As no one else knows how to play the role of men with a broken soul, but confidence in the eyes and actions of Billy Bob Thornton. He can hardly be called a sex symbol, but his talent as an actor is great. Personally, I experienced a huge range of emotions about his Hank Grotowski. In the beginning, he was such a negative character that he wanted to shout that he deserved to be in the electric chair for his behavior and words. But then to his hero there is a rethinking of the relationship - from the worst he changes for the better and is not going to stop there. I don’t know how he and Letizia would have lived after all this, but one thing is for sure: they deserved happiness in the end. Peter Boyle played a strong role and the fact that he did not get nominated for awards is due only to the fact that his character is a complete racist and ignorant, and the same are not put as an example. Without the likes of Buck Grotowski, our lives would be better. And Heath Ledger and rapper Sean "Pee Diddy" Combs won't have much screen time.
Severe film, full of emotional torment and tragedy. The dramatic events of the “Monster Ball” should not leave anyone indifferent, and their consequences should lead to certain thoughts. Halle Berry’s magnificent open play deserves to be seen, and Billy Bob Thornton and his character tell us that we need to fight our inner monsters so that in heart and soul they do not rule the ball. I was expecting the worst, but I was pleasantly surprised.
8 out of 10
When you are constantly dealing with death, or even doing it, because the law permits it, your heart may gradually become stale and your soul cold. You begin to be cynical about family, friends and the surrounding life in general. In the end, this cold in your soul can destroy everything that is most precious, and it is important not to miss the moment when you can at least partially recover what is lost. This fate befell the main character of the psychological drama Mark Forster “Monsters Ball”.
Synopsis Hank Grotowski has always been proud of his profession as a prison cop. His father has worked in this field all his life, so Hank hopes that his son Sunny will follow in his father’s footsteps, as Hank did in his father’s footsteps. However, Sunny hates this job and one day commits suicide in front of Hank. Hank quits his job to start a new life and fix his mistakes. And now fate brings him to a black woman Letishia, whose husband was recently executed in the prison where Hank worked.
Game of actors At first, I had doubts that the film would be too sentimental or rude, but all doubts turned to dust when I saw the actors involved in the film. First of all, I would like to note the unforgettable game of Halle Berry, who played the role of Letishia, whose husband was executed 11 years after being taken into custody, and her son, who is obese, is knocked to death by a car. The heroine falls on the mountain of trouble, when she needs what she has been deprived of for so long - support and care. Of the secondary roles, I would like to note the play of Heath Ledger, who played a small but significant role of Sunny, a young guy who strives for freedom, for a bright life and, most importantly, for the love of his own father, who was always cold to him, but forced to kill people under the pressure of the parental word, which he hates most in life.
Directorship I got acquainted with the work of director Mark Forster while watching the fantastic thriller “World War Z”, i.e. for me he declared himself as a director of a fantastic genre with elements of horror. It is clear that I could not have imagined that he could masterfully shoot a psychological drama exploring family and human relationships. The director shows us the main characters in such a way as to prove that they are very similar: both share the death of relatives, both are lonely. But if Hank has the strength and ability to change his life for the better, which he by the way successfully manages, then the trouble falls on Letishia one after another. In the end, the director shows the interweaving of the fates of the heroes in such a way that they seem to heal each other, but the past still catches up with them.
Scenario In terms of the plot, Monsters Ball was worthy of a statuette for the best original script, since the plot could be based on a very real story - the story of the fates of two strangers who reap the benefits of their past mistakes. As already mentioned, the main character Hank actually represents a dynasty of prison policemen. But this callous and cold work led to a complete lack of love in the family. Okay, Hank's mother killed herself. It's not clear what happened to Hank's wife. Sunny hates the job and then shoots himself in the heart in front of Hank. Next, we meet Latishya, a single mother who has been raising her son for 11 years, as his father is serving time in prison and is soon to be executed in the electric chair under Hank himself. Latishia did not mourn her husband’s death much, but real grief comes to her home when her son is knocked down to death. Again, death brings the heroes together, but this time for real. Each of them helps each other. However, Hank’s past is haunting, leading to an ambiguous ending.
Result In my opinion, “Monsters Ball” is a very strong picture that will not leave the viewer indifferent. The curious plot, the convincing play of the actors, the deep meaning, even the ambiguous ending - all this sets the picture apart, makes it more memorable.
The picture of Mark Forster “Monsters’ Ball” before viewing seemed to be another movie show on the theme of a mystical thriller is not particularly high-profile, because the film did not receive wide publicity, and therefore (such thoughts were mine) nothing special should be expected. I decided to look in the hope of a little “step away” from the demolished “roof” “Million Dollar Baby,” that’s what this movie is about.
Before that, the work of Mark Forster was not familiar, but the name of Halle Berry did its job and now began to view. And how stunned, drained, turned after the end of the film, especially the ending, it just gives hope, inspires hope for further life, that you can not see in a person only black, because white is often much more, it should just be considered, give him a chance to manifest, to break through the veil of blackness.
Billy Bob played a stunning character, this role is certainly worthy of an Oscar, as well as the role of Halle Berry, who received an Oscar quite deservedly. The experiences of the heroes, their inner world amaze and strain at the same time. To tell the truth, such films as a balm for the soul, because so much in itself does not carry a movie is now produced, just amazed.
A huge thank you to Mark Forster, this film is worth bringing to my favorites, and I will watch the work of the director. As, however, and behind the roles of Halle Berry, because in the “Monster Ball” she presented a great gift to all lovers of quality cinema with her game.
The first characteristic that I want to give this film is a significant gap between expectations based on a brief description of the plot and final impressions. We are not so much a trivialized and electrified narrative, but a measured social drama with a very slow pace. In other words, if you can create bursts of emotion while watching a kind of schedule, then only a few places will be noticeable jumps, and most of the film is two hours long passes quietly. The feeling of viewing is more like familiarity with a book of the level of John Grisham, especially since the space for revealing the images of the main characters here is more than enough.
This is an adult mature story, many moments of which, say, sex or violence are shown "uncensored." In some scenes, it is difficult to rearrange between the facets of one life. One minute the hero of Heath Ledger takes a friend of a prostitute in the hotel room, and in the morning he begins his duties as a state executor of death sentences. The main character watches the death agony of his loved one, and a few days later tries to save someone else's child. In this sense, the picture looks little like anything else, and now and then offers us similar rough transitions for perception. It’s a bit of a shame that for two hours you expect something particularly significant, try to predict an unusual twist of the plot or a bright ending, and in the end there is none of this.
The main characters and fate plans for the development of their acquaintance deserve a separate word. On the one hand, we have a hereditary “executioner”, a person of severe morals, almost devoid of emotions. Billy Bob Thornton turned out to be a highly unusual, detached character, who sometimes wants to shake the shoulder, thereby causing them at least some emotions. It is not surprising that within the framework of this story, he is waiting for a transformation, a reassessment of the already lost and acquired. His character can be called rather unpleasant, but not negative - there are no such things here, in the usual sense. Halle Berry realized the collective image of a young American woman on the edge of poverty, with many problems. This character causes more pity and to some extent empathy than sympathy.
7 out of 10
For a very long time I thought about the film, weighed all its positive and negative sides, and despite the Oscar and a fairly high rating, I still write in red. This movie attracted me because of Heath Ledger's favorite actor and the Halle Berry award. I don’t know what I expected to see, but it’s clear that it’s not what I saw.
The film is positioned as a drama / melodrama. Yes, you can not argue with this, the story is dramatic, but still, despite all its cruelty and tragedy, it does not interest, intrigue, capture or even frighten. Description of the film - 1/10 of everything that happens on the screen. The idea isn’t even that Hank wants Sonny to continue the family tradition, although that’s what’s going on. So what's the idea? Hank is a calm person who does not notice anything around him. A boring, gloomy life consisting of an elderly father, work and a roadside cafe. The relationship with my son is terrible, everything in life is bad. And here's a meeting with Letizia, whose story is even darker and more horrific. Two people just met by coincidence, and they were not the most pleasant. Everything that connects these people and happens next is a huge abyss. Dark, monotonous, completely undecided. I didn't like the story, although it's quite dramatic and maybe even deplorable. But how people forget once dear to them people and quite calmly start a new beginning is unclear.
Heath Ledger, as it turned out, is very little here. As for Halle Berry. I don’t think her performance in this movie deserves an Oscar. A huge number of beautiful actresses who did not receive this award and know how to cry and undress. What is her “Oscarnosity” here? The character is more than strange, completely repulsive. Berry herself isn't very impressive. Nervously smokes, cries, undresses, then smokes again. Of course, if you are a passionate fan of this actress, you will love the film, because there are enough scenes with the naked body of Berry, which she shows, not shy. But in general, there is nothing special about it. I don’t doubt that she plays, plays her role, as it should, but nothing more. The behavior of her character is not clear. Was it hysterical? Yes, even if it is, it is still so easy to abandon the past and only once again sadly remember. I don’t know Billy Bob Thornton as an actor, but I do. He did it very easily here. It's like he didn't try at all, he just worked. His character doesn’t attract him either. Relationships with your son, your father, and everyone around you. He doesn't care about his own family, what does he care about the rest of us? People seem to care more about him. In general, the main characters of the film are not attracted to themselves.
They met and began a new life, gradually forgetting this torment, learning the unpleasant truth, seeing everything from the inside. This story may be dramatic, but there is nothing in it. There is no good script, there is no good musical accompaniment. You don’t want to review Monster’s Ball simply because there is nothing important, interesting or worthwhile about it. So this movie makes a nasty impression. There are few pleasant moments in it, and something memorable even less. Only for the performance of actors
Monsters' Ball is a heavy and powerful American drama from 2001. The movie turned out to be good, and its story is incredibly dramatic and touching, and when watching you experience shock, pity and deep sadness. The cinema is saturated with the difficult fate of the heroes and the fact that their life is constantly testing their strength. I remember this film for a long time, and I think it is a worthy and strong drama, which undoubtedly deserves attention.
We see the main character who works as an executioner. His job is to turn on the electric chair switch during his execution. His father did it, he does it now, and soon his son will have to do it. The hero meets a woman who has a very difficult life and soon she loses her son, and we see this story, which from the first to the last frame is saturated with great tragedy and difficult life of the main characters.
The main characters find each other, and there is a ray of hope in their lives, and we see a strong drama, seeing which will be difficult to forget. I was impressed by the performance of Academy Award winner Halle Berry in this drama. She played very emotionally and sensually and was the heart and soul of this film. The viewer gets the opportunity to see a real chic pure dramatic play of a wonderful actress. Billy Bob Thornton is a good and strong actor, and in this film he played well and in the title role looked decent. The duet of these actors was interesting. It was also nice to see Heath Ledger in a small role. He was a wonderful and beloved actor, it is a pity that he is no longer alive. “Monster’s Ball” is a movie for those who love the real strongest dramas, and this film is meaningful and very deep. We see how hard life is and we have to fight, but sometimes we don’t have the strength. There were some real shocking scenes in the film that are hard to forget. Watch this drama, and it will take you into the history of drama and tragedy, and you will be discouraged and experience a real shock. Some moments were so dramatic that tears were drawn. The actors are delighted, so the film turned out so worthy.
9 out of 10
It's gonna be magical. Each character will eventually find what they are looking for. Those who seek peace are those who seek love, love, hatred, and evil, loneliness. Because of death, the living tend to appreciate life more and more. Which is exactly what happens in this movie.
This movie wants to show us, the audience, the value of life, the value of each meeting, which, in the end, can turn everything in a person. And the truth can be even more extraordinary. One that people don't usually say. But he thinks to himself, without speaking for years. In this film she is angry, this truth, like bile, eats away. Someone to share it at gunpoint. And then he realizes that this, “his truth,” turned out to be a lie, like the whole past life.
This “someone” will change as quickly as a miracle.
Slow drama about death, indifference and chocolate ice cream.
The latter is indicated by me not by chance: the main character absorbs him in grief, and in joy, the good, the strong body of the prison guard is ready to withstand the severity of the shock dose of sugar.
Hank is proud of his work - he touches the electric chair switch more often than a woman. The backyard of the small family home he shares with his elderly father and lazy son is decorated with two stone tombstones, which remind us that the preservation of order is the business of an entire dynasty. Hank rushes to pass the baton to his young offspring Sunny; in his head unfolds the perfect plan of initiation of his son into the mystery of death penalty, because all that connects them at the moment is a skinny prostitute, in which both have been.
But his hopes do not come true: Sunny is too sensitive for the executioner, his stomach is weak, and his heart is full of compassion. The iron machinery of tradition is crumbling to hell. Our callous hero loses his son, voluntarily leaves his job, but this does not change much.
We look closely at the problem of personal indifference, with which the film will reverberate the viewer to moral fatigue. What do observers think of looking at the face of a suicide bomber put in the electric chair? A few minutes ago, he held firmly to the bars of his last cell and sighed heavily. Just dessert. The belts are tight and breathing becomes more difficult. A fixed head suddenly has a completely inappropriate microphone, the person holding it is extremely interested in the last thoughts of the person who committed the crime. Buttons pressed. Someone's gone.
The drama takes place anywhere but here. We have only the impenetrable face of Hank performed by Billy Bob Thornton. He abruptly interrupts the priest, reading prayers over the grave of his son, and after a while already seeking spiritual salvation in the arms of the character Halle Berry.
Speaking of the latter. She is so gentle and strict as a mother. How maliciously she confiscates chocolate from her obese young son! How beautiful is the bright sadness with which she remembers her son after his death.
Forster's monsters are not mythical creatures, they are the most real you can look at. Their existence is a desperate search for solid matter under their feet, a perfect feeling capable of inspiring and a moral invalid if necessary.
The Monsters Ball should be enjoyed. Wet windshield; Thornton, imperturbably erasing blood from the chair and from the seat of the car; sensual sex of two emotionally devastated people; Ledger, who plays with rods. Each frame convinces the viewer that the stone heart is a defect not congenital, but acquired. Grief, attraction, gastronomic whims - all this is familiar and clear to the heroes, but to varying degrees.
“We’re going to be fine, and #34,” Hank sums up, and I believe him.
Bravo, Mark Forster.
I believe that conventionally all cinema is divided into two groups. The first includes those films whose task is to take us as far away from reality as possible with all its problems, worries and riddles. Most of them. The second is the rarest in originality and beauty of diamonds that themselves try to solve the mystery of existence, level the depth of being and thus free us from the shackles of life (at least for a few hours). Creating such a picture is extremely time-consuming and, perhaps, almost impossible, because they are valued much higher than ordinary films. "Monster Ball" falls into this category.
The main character of the film is ... death. Around her, like around the sun, the main characters are not able to approach her or move away from her. She has absolute power over them. All their existence and freedom are reduced to suffering. Thornton (on duty) watches daily as she with her invisible hand simply wipes people off the board of being. Suddenly, his own son was on the list. The heroine Berry is forced to bear an even heavier burden.
Loud and clear in the film sounds the motive of loneliness, isolation of people from each other and from themselves. Total desperation consumes heroes who are unable to resist circumstances, powerless in the face of death and fate. But it is in this way of suffering that they come to realize themselves, their “being-to-death”, in which, as we know, everything temporal and finite is removed. Because Thornton is no longer an executioner and a racist, Berry is no longer a waitress who has lost her husband and son, their personalities are effectively dissolved in an all-encompassing and endless stream of passionate love.
Characters seem to be freed from the tyranny of fate, predestination and fall into the realm of the possible, gain real freedom. The curse that gravitates over the Thornton family and is transmitted from father to son is destroyed. Berry gets rid of the unbearable desperation suffocating her from within. And the heroes find the answer to the question posed by life (and death) in each other.
The film has several distinctive features that allow it to leave the category of passing and proudly stand in the ranks of special and exceptional. First of all, this is, of course, an abundance of first-class actors, each of whom complements the already realistic and lively picture with their play. Second, the film has a style (a phenomenon no more common than a solar eclipse). Third, note the position in which the viewer is at the viewing. It is as if God is watching the fate and suffering of the characters from his spectator Olympus, knowing secrets and secrets of which they do not know. Therefore, he has the opportunity to clearly see the situation from two sides: not only from the one where man’s powerlessness before the overwhelming power of circumstances is obvious, but also from the opposite. And he clearly understands the objective insignificance, the emptiness of every event, for we ourselves put meaning into it. It is also clear that our (human) statements are only prejudices and delusions.
The film was attacked for its candor in displaying sexual scenes. Allegedly, they were shot specifically to attract attention, and in themselves do not carry any semantic load and fall out of the context of the film. But! Where, even more clearly and frankly, we can see those monsters that sit in us and only wait – when the orchestra plays, the lights will light up and they will be able to openly, without hiding and without fear to arrange a ball.
I rarely get to see a good movie lately. More and more people are imposing some kind of morality on us, we supposedly have to learn some lessons. “Children, racism is bad, we must eradicate it, let’s provide all white rich disabled people with colored helpers, and let there be equality on Earth!” And, of course, you need to insert more flat jokes into the film, well, to surely hook the chewing popcorn mass.
In the “Monster Ball” there is no such thing that can not but please. Heroes live their own separate lives. Each of them has its own opinion, and they do not care whether others like it or accept it. This applies to both the disparaging father Hank, and the heartbroken sexy Letizia, who immediately after the death of her husband and son throws herself into the arms of a silent stranger, and the former executioner Hank, who hides from her girlfriend his involvement in the death of her husband. Some may judge them, but they are what they are. Broken by life, tough, sometimes nasty. But they still need care, they want love, and they are willing to share it in return. So the two “monsters” came together, and let each decide for himself what the final awaits them.
Billy Bob Thornton didn't disappoint. He was able to convey such a cold-blooded, sober type of hero, who realized already in adulthood that he had not yet lived a single day for the sake of himself and his human happiness. He did nothing for the sake of others.
The scene after the accident.
L.-Hank, why did you stop to help?
H-I don't know...
Halle Berry was not bad, but I don’t think she won the Oscar.
Heath Ledger was clearly cramped in his 10-minute role, but I can’t say anything bad about one of his favorite actors.
P.S. One thing remains unclear. What could this dandelion, played by P. Diddy, have done to put him in the electric chair? And therefore:
A small town in the Louisiana wilderness. Here in a local prison for many years working as a warden stingy on emotions southern misanthrope Hank Grotowski. In combination, he also performs the duties of executioner, as, incidentally, in his time and his father. Like his retired father, Hank is a staunch hereditary racist. When it comes time to execute a colored man, he does so with the coolness of an invertebrate. Unlike his son Sunny, who works with him, but has never learned to take this inevitable procedure calmly.
After an “internship” at Twin Peaks, Mark Forster dared to show America from the back door: without any infernal secrets so beloved by his colleague David Lynch. Forster gathered on the screen a company of notorious monsters (although literally the title of the film refers to the long British tradition to arrange for suicide bombers "Monster Ball" - a party on the eve of execution), trying to find in them glimpses of human feelings.
The director chooses a deliberately monotonous rhythm, which, as in a vice, compresses emotions and acts as a stifling reception on the audience, especially, I believe, those who are accustomed to fundamentally different ways of influence, brought to automatism genre films and based either on suspense or action. As a result, a potential thriller about another green mile is transformed into a drama about American longing and about great sinners who are also entitled to their own little happiness. Together, they finally find solace in the imaginary (well, very imaginary!) happy ending.
This movie is hardly recommended to watch people who are already not very happy with life. It is no coincidence that this film, even with all its regalia and Oscar hype, at one time flatly refused the Russian rental. But if you don’t know anything about actress Holly Bury, or, unfortunately, have seen her as a Bond girl, or even worse, a cat woman, then you are very unlucky, because you saw quite the wrong thing.
The best work of this “whitest of all African-American women” is just the main female role in this film (the prize for best actress at the IFF in Berlin and “Oscar”). Here she fully demonstrates not only the woman’s essence, but also what no talent: now she beats in heartbreaking hysteria, then suddenly indulges in such self-forgettable sex that you begin to understand the “Billy guy”, who soon after with unusual ease broke up with his spongy Angelina. However, especially attentive viewers, the film can open their eyes to the mystery of its own sexual gigantism and insatiability.
We must assume that even this little cinemanish happiness will be quite enough to understand the main thing in life: you should throw yourself into a loop or a well only when you have completely forgotten how to receive these little cinephile joys.
I understand, of course, that false expectations are the problem of the waiters themselves (in this case, me), but I still expected something close, if not in script, then in spirit to the Green Mile. And in the first part of the film, my expectations were quite justified.
The viewer is shown a family consisting of men of three generations - father, son, grandson - and all of them are engaged in a business that can only be called pleasant in comparison with the work of a pathologist - they send people to the electric chair and are proud of their profession. Both fathers in this house (the grandfather and father of the hero Ledger) treat their children with contempt for the fact that they, in their opinion, are not tough enough, “got everything to the mother.” It is almost a Nazi family, in which there is a person who does not want to inherit all of this – both the disgusting work and the moral foundations of the family. His protest leads to tragedy and is the engine of the plot.
I wanted to see this film not only because I was trying to find another Green Mile, but because Halle Berry won the Oscar for the role. I don’t know what this Oscar is for. Whether the rest of the contenders were none at all, or the nudity is mind-blowing (it is worth admitting) Berry so touched everyone at the Academy ...
Billy Bob Thorton. Is he even an actor? Sorry. Brick face with a touch of boredom. Eats ice cream, shoots a gun at blacks, mocks his son. That's it? Oh, he's building his own life. It's not a good idea to build.
In general, all this was probably conceived as a deep drama, where the main actions and passions are hidden in characters, seemingly dormant. I love such slow-moving films. But something did not grow, something was missing.
I saw a lot of monsters in this film: a father driving his son to suicide; an elderly vulture; a glutton; a mother beating her own son for candy. But what about the ball?
If it was a movie of a different, more adult genre, perhaps you could put the highest rating for one Halle Berry, and so on.
6 out of 10
Billy Bob Thornton is not my favorite actor, Halle Berry is not my favorite actress, Mark Forster is not my favorite director. Social topics are not my favorite genre. The movie was great!
The American outback in the South with its prejudices, fathers and children - generations of people of a rather terrible profession - but in the field of execution of sentences someone needs to work, right? - Life painted before you were born - that is the canvas that forms the basis of the plot.
The younger Grotowski (Heath Ledger) is not at all predisposed to the craft of the executioner, but in this family, the choice is even somehow not discussed. Such a provincial swamp, causing sucking longing in the stomach. As usual, tragedy is needed for the thoughts and actions of people to change their course.
This is a film about forgiveness, about the fact that some events can radically change our perception of the surrounding reality, about the willingness to give your warmth to others. It's not about callousness, no, as many people think! It means that just because you don't have pain on your face doesn't mean your heart isn't crying. The film is about how completely different characters from different worlds, social strata, racial circles suddenly converge, united by grief and suffering and together learn to build Happiness, although circumstances are rather against.
I do not want to participate in the “flight analysis” Halle Berry – whether she deserves that Oscar or not, but I know one thing: this movie gave the world the most beautiful and soulful erotic scene in cinema, and it is expensive.
The plot was very impressive: in the plexus of the fates of Hank and Leticia, you can see the hand of Providence. Heath Ledger in his small role remembered and loved me much more than in all the others. The final scene shocked with its correctness, restraint: in this everydayness and understatement there was such an abyss of hidden meaning that tears came to my eyes.
10 out of 10