Japan's Palme d'Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda unveiled his latest drama, "Monster," at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, where it received a six-minute standing ovation. The director hopes to repeat his success at the festival with his new film, five years after winning the top prize in 2018 for "Shoplifters."
"Monster," which breaks down the misunderstandings between a single mother and a teacher started by two schoolboys, bears many hallmarks of Kore-eda's "tender" cinema about tough lives and unconventional families. The film begins as a disquieting tale of teacher-pupil harassment with a clear baddie, but judgements are swiftly revised as the film switches points of view.
"I wanted the spectator to be able to search in the same way the characters were doing in the film," the 60-year-old director says about the movie's central mystery: Who is the monster?