Monster
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Features
• AC-3
• Anamorphic
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Dolby
• DTS Surround Sound
• DVD-Video
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
In Theaters : 30 January, 2004
DVD Release : 01 June, 2004 |
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Truly devastating depiction of a woman at the end of her rope...
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One thing I'd never thought I'd see was Charlize Theron holding an acting Oscar. That isn't meant to be an insult to the actress; it's just to say that based on her filmography I didn't expect her to be handed such an iconic role. The iconic role that I am referring to is of course her brilliant turn as Aileen Wuornos, the hooker turned serial killer, in Patty Jenkins Monster'.
When you watch Theron in Monster' you are immediately blown away by the physical transformation she undertook. All her undeniable beauty (she is one of the most spellbinding beauties in Hollywood) is stripped bare of her to expose the ugliness that consumed this woman. Her skin is yellowed and loose; her eyes are small and beady; her hair is thin and coarse; her voice is gruff yet vulnerable; her waist has expanded...but beyond any prosthetics there lies a performance' for the ages. Charlize Theron brilliantly captured the woman that was Aileen Wuornos. Her mannerisms, her speech, her attitude; everything that she was is projected on the audience with reckless abandon.
Monster' recounts the events that led up to Wuornos arrestment and first death sentence (she received five more before her execution). We see her lifestyle, most elements forced upon her by her childhood and early adolescence. We see her desperation and apathy, both of which root themselves in her actions. Then she meets Selby (based on Aileen's real life lover Tyra), a young naA ve girl who just wants someone to love her. Wuornos is in a way just like Selby. She has never truly been loved or understood by anyone, always being rejected and thrown away so-to-speak and so they immediately form a close bond, but that bond is tested almost as soon as it is formed.
After a brutal attack Wuornos discovers her inner monster. In order to preserve her life and her hope of a future with Selby she murders her attacker in what proves to be the most intense and moving moment in the film (that one scene to me is what sealed Theron's Oscar...heartbreaking). After crossing that line she finds that it's the most awful and grotesque things in life that prove to be the easiest to carry out. Aileen has been degraded and abused since her conception but in the flash of the gun she finds that becoming the monster is so much easier then remaining the victim. Determined to stop hooking altogether she runs off with Selby to start her life, but without an income and under pressure from Selby to provide' for her she returns to the streets, this time with a new agenda. Aileen has no intentions of giving these men anything more than a bullet.
I had really known nothing about Aileen Wuornos when I first saw Monster' but since watching this film I've seen two documentaries and read some articles on her. While the film for the most part remains true to Wuornos case there are some Hollywood fragmentations that can alter our perspective of this woman. What is fact is that she was a very tortured woman who in the end snapped under the crushing powers of frustration and heartbreak. She had lost so much, but then again never really had that much to begin with. Her life was one never-ending slide towards pain and suffering and she couldn't take it anymore. She was betrayed by the ones she loved and as the final frames capture her anguish as Selby testifies against her we are brought to the purest of sympathies for this convicted killer.
The film as a whole works in a devastating way, but a lot of this is due to Theron's magnificent performance. Unlike Boys Don't Cry', I don't feel Monster' would have worked without Theron. There are moments, especially towards the center of the film, that are almost soap operaish' and that take away from the steely darkness of the film. Parts move slower than they should and this can take away from overall impact of the film. Once the film starts to spiral towards its climax though it never lets up. The initial murder marks a moment of change not only in Aileen but in the film itself. As we watch her scream and cry and parade around in utter misery and hostile confusion it's as if a switch goes off and the films pace starts to shift.
Jenkins is no Pierce (that is to say Kimberly Pierce, director of Boys Don't Cry') but she does manage to extract Theron's finest performance ever; and by ever' I mean EVER'.
Aside from Theron there are some other well established performances. Christina Ricci (an actress I expect one day to hold an Oscar) turns in a very well constructed turn as Selby, Aileen's love. She can't really hold her own against Theron mostly because Charlize is so absorbing, but her final scenes are devastating and raw; just what this film needed. A group of actors that I think should be singled out are those who portrayed the men who lost their lives to Aileen, especially Marco St. John and Scott Wilson.
Monster' is not a flawless film but it is a solid three star film that deserves to be seen. Charlize Theron's performance though is so flawless, so undeniably remarkable that she elevates this film to four stars, demanding that we give it a chance. This is not an easy film to watch for it ravages the audience with brutality so repulsive yet so heartbreaking that our emotions are jumbled and confused. Do we feel sympathies for this woman or do we feel anger towards her actions? One thing is for certain, because of Monster' everyone will know and remember Aileen Wuornos. |
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Monster dvd movie.