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BONUS EPISODE: "Monster" (2023) (Patreon)

Published:
2026-04-02 19:42:48
Imported:
2026-04

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Content

Our bonus episode! A tiny bit late, apologies, but anyway, this month we examine Hirokazu Kore-eda's psychological mystery tale "Monster" and try to get to the bottom of its many ambiguities and questions, questions like "How the hell did this win the Song vs. Song poll"

Comments

Alexandra Rutt

I looked back at the poll comments and I didn't see anyone who said they voted for Monster. Hmmm

Dork Mode

I thought I clicked on an NPR podcast by mistake

Brandon Hay

Honestly I'd wonder if there were people that voted for it that mistakenly thought it was an adaptation of the OTHER famous Japanese psychological thriller called Monster, which is probably more well known to western audiences and has a (roughly) similar premise to the blurb Todd gave on the poll.

Alexandra Rutt

i originally was requesting Return to Sleepaway Camp because that movie is dogshit and the idea of Todd having to watch it was funny to me but i eventually realized that Sleepaway 2 would be more interesting to hear them talk about

Gone

Anyone interested in Kore Eda’s work based on this and/or Shoplifters and hasn’t seen anything else: AFTER LIFE. I cannot stress this recommendation enough, it is a beautiful and profound movie, the latter of those words I am loathe to use ever, one of my favorite Japanese movies, it’s in my top four on Letterboxd right now if that data point means anything, please watch that movie. It’s about the recently deceased passing through a waystation where they are asked to pick one memory that will be then acted out and committed to film, after which it’s the only memory of their mortal life they get to take with them into the afterlife. Love this movie so goddamn much.

Samuel Nguyen

On a related note, I’m excited for Kore edas adaptation of Look Back.

Matt

I haven't seen the movie, but I've lived in Tokyo for about 8 years now, and having worked at an education-adjacent job (English cram school that works with kids and adults) for 6 of those years, I wanna mention a few things: 1) The description of how the movie begins and the mother being frustrated that the school refuses to give her a straight answer, is probably trying to view the situation from the perspective of the average person. Regardless of whether or not it is a fully accurate representation of reality or whether or not it is justified, having everyone give meely-mouth responses to say as little as possible but apologize profusely as a deflection mechanicanism is considered an "accepted truth" about how Japanese society and how it operates. From what it sounds like, beginning the story like this doesn't really sound so much manipulative as it is presenting a situation that the average person that lives here can easily envision themselves in. You'd be surprised just how many meaningless performative apologies and displays of thankfulness you have to get through when in professional situations. So the school just constantly apologizing without actually saying or doing anything substantial sounds very true to life, at least. 2) The school trying to protect its teachers from "predatory parents" also sounds about right and not necessarily a made-up issue. Though, again, it's one of those things that is "commonly accepted wisdom" vs being a perfect reflection of reality. Honestly, it's probably less parents trying to get an easy payday (which is the common conservative propaganda for it here) and more overprotective parents just taking their kids' words at face value and refusing to look any deeper than that. I've personally seen sitations where a parent was absolutely justified in their anger with our cram school, but also times where the parent, after managing to dig up more information, was just completely unwilling to accept any other narrative than the one they had in their head. Neither of the above is exclusive to Japan, obviously, but it sounds like the film was touching at something that is a common subject that comes up in Japanese society and doesn't sound like it was necessarily manipulative in the sense that it was purposely contriving a situation that seems believable. Like I said, haven't seen the movie, but from what Todd and Lina described, it sounds like it was presenting a pretty widely understood social issue that most people in Japan are aware of. I'll need to see if I can find a version of the movie with English subtitles somewhere and check it myself. Sounds interesting

Matt

Side note: 3) The hostess clubs are for paying for overpriced drinks and food so you can sit with a woman/some women who work there and pretend that you're the coolest, most interesting guy in the world. It's a model that's very similar to Hooters, except less wings and tank tops and more champagne and night dresses. They are a HUGE industry in Japan. They also have host clubs that are extremely popular, which are exactly the same but with hot dudes with half buttoned up shirts and gold chains Basically, just play literally any Yakuza game and you'll get the concept pretty quickly

Crescent Minor

Never heard those two cross cultural things compared, but wow, you have a good point about similar appeals.

Crescent Minor

I watched a review series on the Sleepaway movies, think it was Snob's, and I've got to say, the gross out kills and animal abuse and odious characters really turned me off the further I went in that one. Hated even looking at bits of the fourth one. Lina's probably got the horror stomach for it, but I can see Todd finding Sleepaway sequels too unpleasant and character-lite to think of comment on, like I do. Movie 1, tho, I've seen enough highlight reels from transwomen horror fans that make me intrigued. Knowing the twist, this movie looks like it can be about a brave little transgirl defending herself from bullies for some of it, though with weirdly brutal kills. Yet another case when a queer audience can ignore an intention to frame the queer as a villain because she's rather sympathetic and clever. And if the character is something of a Hedwig, not willingly transitioned but forced to, well ... to a lesser or greater degree, it's common to feel we can't be ourselves because of our parents, so more's the better for relating to this villian. I am not cut out for that 70s grimy, brutal suffering sort of horror movie, but sometimes I've wished to be just because the first Sleepaway Camp looks good, if you can deal with all the burning, screaming people shot on what looks like video.

Crescent Minor

Weird ... I'm not even seeing the overt positivity about the film in THIS comment section to suggest we're hearing from the Monster voters, either. Will the Monsters please stand up?

Matt

To be fair, Lina mentioned Hooters first in the podcast by saying the hostess club in the movie seemed like one 😛. I was just trying to expand on her thought

Samuel Nguyen

Perhaps this is me projecting on to the story and characters, but when I watched Monster for the first time to me Minato read as a passively suicidal gay boy. He is very obsessed with the idea or reincarnation, rebirth and the end of the world whilst dealing with his own internalized homophobia in a country and culture that is conservative and has strict gender roles. The ending to me is Kore-eda and by extension the characters playing with but ultimately rejecting the bury your gays trope. When Minato says at the end they’re not reborn, but they’re simply just themselves it’s him accepting himself and his queerness no longer feeling like there is something wrong with him or he needs to be changed or reborn. On a meta level I think Kore-eda is saying that queer stories and characters don’t have to have tragic endings, they are allowed to be happy. And I don’t it matters what the “real” truth of the ending is, even if the characters are dead or in purgatory, I think it’s really emotionally powerful to have the last shot of the film be 2 gay/queer boys running and laughing and be totally uninhibited from society’s rules and expectations.

Märten 'tshiif' Rattasepp

I voted for Monster when it was up, though I was surprised that Monster was on the list. Because I knew it wasn't a music related film. But still, got my vote because the movie is great. It made me feel All The Emotions when I first saw it a year ago.

Lior

I voted for Monster because I appreciate this movie...and I genuinely didn't expect it to win!

GEWolf

I voted for Monster because it is a very complex movie that there is a lot to say about AND it seemed funny to vote for a serious foreign film on the haha music podcast.