A quick review of "Monster" *SPOILERS*

Cafe Society
1

What a disturbing, powerful movie.

First off, Charlize Theron’s performance is one of the best I’ve ever seen any actor pull off. In fact, don’t even go into this thing expecting to even SEE Charlize Theron, because for all intents and purposes, she doesn’t even exist in this movie, as her persona is entirely overtaken by that of Aileen, a serial murder who was just executed in Fall of 2002. It’s unfortunate that the same can’t be said of Christina Ricci, who does pull off a good performance… unfortunately, it’s More Of The Same for her part.

The movie has some flaws, and pretty significant ones. The first act is pretty slow, and filled with some terribly cheap, really shmaltzy moments that will make you cringe. Please, for the love of god, I beg you… if you’re gonna see this movie, sit through those bad moments. Even as the hair on the back of your neck stands on end, don’t walk out of the movie… because this movie has some amazingly excellent points, and when it’s good, it’s REALLY goddamned fucking good.

What we get to witness is, in essence, the final steps of a total mental and emotional breakdown of a woman that has been beaten and battered by a really shitty life. By the time the movie catches up to her, she is so far beyond hope that it’s nauseating.

For instance… during one particularly, cheesy, corny “cute” scene in a roller rink, I found myself suppressing a gag, but I told myself, “I can appreciate this terrible scene, if only for the dichotomy, if the movie makes the twist implied by the opening scene”. And I wasn’t disappointed… shortly thereafter, we’re treated to a terribly brutal scene in which Aileen is attacked by one of her clients, tied up, and all sorts of painful horrible things happen to her. She manages to escape and extract vengeance, but her screams of agony, anguish, and terror are gonna cut you to the quick.

The music in this film is also painfully cheesy, but again, withstand that poor decision. The movie soon descends from one brutally powerful scene after another, with the shmaltz getting less and less prevalent, until we’re finally left with Aileen’s final murder that really, really hurts to see… in the good way, that is, since it’s so terribly shocking to see this character, who I once sympathized with, live up to the movie’s title.

If you can tolerate unnecessary and annoying cheesiness and really focus on the excellent scenes in a film, then go see this. However, if you’re the type that needs a movie to be consistently good, you’re gonna complain… but I think this movie is definitely worth seeing, just so you can witness Theron’s performance. It’s very rare for us to get to see an actor lose him or herself so much in a role.

2

The roller rink scene is the best in the movie, and I’ll tell you why. Now, it’s only so if you have some knowledge about what happens to Aileen beforehand (and it’s a small percentage of people who go in that will not). Here, we see this essentially wasted human life reaching out wildly for some human companionship and thinks it’s found it. If there was a VO here, it would be, essentially, “Hell, everything else has screwed me over, why not try girls?” Somewhere in this shell of a person has been found the capacity for… not even love (which I’m not sure she’s capable of at this point), but at the very least something pleasant and worth fighting for. If we don’t have this, then her final fall doesn’t have the same tragedy, it’s just a series of dispicable acts by a dispicable person. She’s found something worth fighting for and is willing to do so by any means neccesary, even if she is hopelessly misguided about how to do it. I mean, it’s right there in the title of the song that’s playing, “Don’t Stop Beleving”.

3

I’m not talking about the contents or purpose of the scene, I’m talking about the cheesiness of setting that scene in a roller rink. Like I said, unnecessary and painful shmaltz… done, as I suspect, to put the later, horrific events in stark contrast, but clumsily done.

4

Well don’t forget the movie’s set in 1989 and based on real events.

5

I’m aware. The roller rink is just an example of the type of “happy-cutesy” stuff that gets thrown in (although other scenes, such as the amusement park, are handled much better). Again, it does a very good job of emphasizing the horrific actions that come later… I just feel that these earlier scenes can turn some people off to the real meat 'n potatoes of the film.

6

What makes the roller-rink scene cheesy/schmaltzy? Do you think it was clumsy because of the fact that this obviously unsavory hooker is plopped in a wholesome roller-rink? I guess I can see that, but the scene did not jump out as unfitting. To me, the entire movie was just so sad; the roller rink scene was just one more poignant moment in the trainwreck of Wourno’s life.
Well worth seeing this movie, but man, it’s painful. Good cameo by Bruce Dern.

7

The skating rink scene also worked for me. I think that in another movie I would think of it as schmaltzy, but in the context of the movie I agree that it was not only needed, but done pretty well. I mean, skating rinks are pretty cheesy places. And to have that god-awful (I don’t like Journey, if you can’t tell) song playing in the background while Aileen’s in the tackiest place on earth but actually enjoying herself really (for me) served as a great contast to the horrible scenes (and by horrible I mean difficult to watch, not poorly done) that are about to follow.

I had the worst theater experience I’ve had in a long while seeing this movie (the projection was screwed up through the entire thing, there were a group of moronic girls behind us who obviously had no idea what movie they were seeing and chatted and gasped throughout the entire thing, and a gross smelling hippie in front of us who liked to play with his light up cell phone), but it was still an incredibly powerful experience altogether. I think I’ll wait for the DVD to see it again, though.

8

Roger Ebert says that Theron’s performance is one of the best in the history of cinema.

I’m very conflicted about seeing this movie. On the one hand, I’d like to see it because of Theron’s performance, but on the other hand the subject matter is something I have no interest in viewing.

9

did anyone who saw this also see the made for TV Aileen Wournos movie starring Jean Smart & Park Overall? That wasn’t bad for being made for TV. It did contain the most surprising graphic child abuse scene I’ve seen on TV next to SYBIL (which I still have to turn away from at some parts).

10

But I plan to. I once gave a ride to Aileen Wournos and turned down her solicitation for sex (easily the wisest decision of my life!). I now find myself morbidly curious as to how her story will be presented on the big screen.

I must say, though, I can hadly imagine Charlize theron portraying the soman I sat next to.

11

Wow, I’m amazed to find that other people have seen this film, too.

In a writing class I took (that was focused on critical thinking), we watched Nick Broomfeld’s (Broomfield?) documentary on Aileen, and since we spent a lot of time talking about it I’ve been interested any time I see news related to it. I think she’s become a Trivial Pursuit question.

It was interesting to watch the film and think about the documentary, because it was as if I’d read a book first and thought “oh that’s not how that really happened.” For example, if you recall how rubbing alcohol was used in that violent scene?

In court, Aileen claimed that the man poured rubbing alcohol up her nose. I’m wondering if later they found that she was just embellishing or if that part was edited for the movie.

If anyone else has seen the documentary I’m speaking of (it’s not the one that came out more recently, it’s an earlier one), then would you agree that Steve the crazy lawyer could’ve been in the movie? And also that woman who adopted her?

Anyone know what I’m talking about?

12

Last night I decided to see a movie that I knew nothing about except the title, in order to broaden my horizons. Additionally, I’d never heard of Aileen Wournos, and if it hadn’t said “based on a true story” it would have taken me a while to figure out.

I guess the only thing I can add is how long I held out hope that she’d come around. Even after the first couple of murders I thought she might have a chance. I guess it was empathy with Selby. Ah well.

13

Wha…?

You’re pullin’ our collective leg, right…? Can you give some details on this?