"
Monster"
*** (out of ****)
One of my favorite horror films of the last decade or so was the Australian film "The Babadook" (2014) directed by Jennifer Kent. I was so impressed by it that I not only placed it on my year-end top ten list in 2014 but included it in my best of the decade list as well.
While "The Babadook" was Kent's feature-length film debut, many may not be aware the film was actually based on a short film she completed several years earlier called "Monster" (2005). Given this year's blog theme, Life is Short - my year long look at short films - and the fact it is October, a time of year when I review more horror films - now seemed like a perfect opportunity to discuss this short.
As you watch "Monster" - you can find it on YouTube - you can see the germ of the idea that would become "The Babadook". In fact seeing this short again makes me appreciate that film even more, especially when considering where Kent started and how she flourished the idea, providing much needed context and layered emotional / psychological interpretations. If you watch these two films back-to-back you are seeing the growth of an artist.
At approximately 11 minutes "Monster" touches on the core idea presented in "The Babadook"; a nameless Mom (Susan Prior) is raising a Son (Luke Ikimis-Healey) by herself. Unlike in "The Babadook" however no explanation is given for the father's absence. The film opens with the Son loudly playing, as children tend to do. He is pretending to be a Knight killing a monster, a somewhat ugly looking doll. He runs around the house yelling. Mom is in the kitchen doing the dishes. All that can be heard in the house is the Son playing.
Within the first two scenes of "Monster", Kent has immediately addressed the movie's central conflict between Mom and Son. The "soundtrack" of Mom's life is her Son screaming. Kent keeps the sound design at a minimal. There's no music, no television playing the background, and no street noise. Just the sound of the Son playing. What Kent has done here is turned the audience not into impartial viewers but completely sympathetic to Mom's plight. Kent has taken something innocent, the joyous sound of a child playing, and transformed it into something agonizing.
From there Kent visualizes what could be her greatest representation of Mom's emotional state and the film's theme; the difficulty of motherhood. When we see Mom doing the dishes it is a medium shot of her face but then the camera pulls back into an extreme long shot and now we are on the outside looking into the kitchen through the window; which has bars on it. Kent wants us to see Mom as trapped in "prison".
It is also important to pay attention to which room in the house Kent chose to film this shot; the kitchen. A room often fraught with sexism - a woman's place is in the kitchen - but also a sign of domesticity. Mom is doing the dishes and she is "trapped". Trapped by the expectations of society's view of women and mothers. Kent could have situated this shot in any room of her choice; how about mom lying on a sofa trying to watch TV? But that wouldn't conjure the additional layers of being in the kitchen and doing the dishes does.
Kent doesn't stop at this visualization however, she builds on it with cut away shots of water pouring onto the dirty pots and pans and a shot of liquid about to overflow from a pot on the stovetop. This is all done while the sounds of the Son's screaming fill the air. The nearly overflowing liquid capturing the simmering rage inside the Mom as she is about to reach her boiling point.
This reminded me of a scene in "The Babadook", where after a long day with her son, mom wants to unwind before she goes to bed and take a moment for herself. In the scene she reaches for her vibrator, which much like the kitchen, is loaded with multiple meanings; ranging from being identified with feminism to a symbol of sexual autonomy. As she uses it however; bringing herself closer and closer to orgasm, she is interrupted by her son, who jumps onto her bed, thus "invading" her space . A scene like this could have gone a number of ways. Mom could have been with a man and the son walks in on them but then you lose the lack of personal intimacy and loneliness the mother is feeling. She has no human companionship, just the inanimate vibrator. Both the kitchen scene in "Monster" and the vibrator scene in "The Babadook" capture the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia mom feels.
When "The Babadook" was first released Kent did an
interview with the British newspaper
The Guardian, where she confirmed her motivation for making the film. "We're all, as women" Kent said "educated and conditioned to think that motherhood is an easy thing that just happens." Kent went on to add in the interview, "I wanted to show a real woman who was drowning in that environment."
That sense of "drowning" goes beyond the kitchen metaphor. "Monster" shows us what appears to be a daily routine - doing dishes and laundry. And notice the little touch Kent throws in about the laundry. When Mom is in the Son's bedroom she is almost hesitant to flip over his blanket, where it is revealed the Son wet the bed. Putting aside whatever psychological trauma this behavior may represent for the Son, Kent keeps the focus on Mom's reaction, implying it is one more thing she must deal with and put up with. It becomes part of the "burden" of motherhood. That "burden" then becomes crystalized when the Son playfully tells his Mom he killed a monster to protect her. Mom doesn't smile or speak to the Son. She retains a blank expression on her face, stares at him and proceeds to finish the household chores. We can sense the tension in the air between them.
Once all of this has been established Kent then shifts the film's tone, creating a more atmospheric psychological horror story. After Mom and Son have a verbal outburst do we then get our first glimpse of the Monster (Trash Vaudeville, which I can't for the life of me believe is a real name but that's who is credited) crunched in the corner of a closet. At first Mom questions what she is seeing but then suddenly the door shuts itself. Startled, Mom opens the door again and sees no one is there.
This adds a rich layer to "Monster". It makes the audience wonder does the Monster really exist or is it a representation of Mom's frustration and anger? It is a move that elevates the material into the kind of horror film I personally prefer; one that examines the horror within us. That is much more scarier than any slasher movie filled with blood and guts.
Given the short running time of "Monster" unfortunately Kent can't quite properly continuously build suspense or create the same level of an eerie atmosphere as she did in "The Babadook" but Kent has the right instinct not to let the presence of the Monster dominate the film. The Monster symbolizes an evil force or spirit that has the potential to loom large over any scene. It is that anticipation that makes "Monster" scary.
In both "Monster" and "The Babadook", Kent is rather forthright in answering the question of whether or not the Monster exist. I think Kent tips the audience off in two ways; a tender embrace between Mom and her sleeping Son; and a final image suggesting in one way or another we all need to learn how to "feed the beast" in order to lead happy, healthy and productive lives.
Attention should also be given to the acting in "Monster" and in particular Susan Prior's performance. Prior does a fine job of manifesting Mom's exhaustion and later transformation into contentment. Within a short period of time and with limited dialogue Prior's face tells us the whole story and finds a way to make her character sympathetic; despite the risky nature of the character; a mother disconnected from her child. In that same Guardian interview, Kent says she was initially worried about how mothers would react to her work but states, "I've experienced a collective sigh of relief that women are seeing a mother up there that's human."
When I first saw "The Babadook" I had hoped it would be the emergence of a fresh new talent. Disappointingly Kent hasn't been as active as I would have liked. Within the course of the eleven year span since the release of "The Babadook", Kent has only directed one other feature length film, "The Nightingale" (2018), which was also a powerful story. I can only hope sexism isn't playing a role in Kent's ability to get financing for her films.
Although it was my predilection to use this year's Life is Short theme to focus on older, silent films - D.W. Griffith, Georges Melies, Guy-Blache, Chaplin...etc. - "Monster" demonstrates the value of the art of modern day short films. They can be used as a launching pad to help establish the seeds for talented filmmakers. Jennifer Kent is a great example.
Jennifer Kent's "Monster" doubles as an entertaining, atmospheric horror film and as a strong social critique on the difficulties of motherhood. We can see the seeds of what would become "The Babadook", where all of Kent's creative talents would come together. "Monster" is a thrilling "first draft" which would make an excellent double-feature this Halloween with "The Babadook".
