Do you believe that love can come along when you least expect it? If so, you might want to see "Monster's Ball," the story of a racist prison guard and a diner waitress who begin a desperate romance under unbelievably difficult circumstances.
This film is outstanding. I walked out of the theater with the feeling that I had just read a very good novel. "Monster's Ball" pairs great timing with a very rich story.
Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) is a corrections officer in the deep South who from time to time shares the task of executing inmates. (Here comes the title of the film, since "Monster's Ball" is the old English term for the night before an execution). Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs) is one of the inmates he must execute, and Leticia (Halle Berry) is his tormented wife and mother of his son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun).
|
|
|
Hank needs to change his profession. His job is slowly taking its toll on him. In one scene, he and his son, Sonny, (Heath Ledger) are preparing to execute an inmate, and his son vomits because of the stress. Enraged, his father corners him and lashes out at him.
When Leticia and Hank meet, she has no idea that he is the same prison guard who killed her husband. Their relationship is tentative at first, but it grows as they learn to trust each other. The issues of racism play into the plot, but "Monster's Ball" is careful not to preach to us a feel-good message about race. The core of the story is an original romance.
Thornton turns out a fantastic performance. He is a racist, yet he finds a way to love a black woman. He is a hate-filled zealot, yet he has the capacity to be merciful to those in need. Frankly, I think the Academy owed Thornton a nomination for this role.
Combs shines in his portrayal of an inmate on death row; the stark emotions come straight to the surface of the screen. Sitting transfixed, I watched Lawrence's last conversation with his son, who asks him why he won't see him anymore. Lawrence responds, in utter honesty, "Because I'm a bad man."
His son replies, "Says who?"
"Says me."
If Combs had been given more screen time, I would have picked him for best supporting actor. He was that good. At least, "Says me."
What everyone is talking about though, is Berry's performance. She absolutely turned this film upside down. Berry was so real and so sincere, that I wanted to call her up after the movie was over and ask her if she was okay. There were so many ways she could have gone wrong, but we would never know it - she is too versatile. When she drinks Jack Daniels and talks about her drapes, we see her drunkenness. When she is rescued, we see childlike joy. When she suffers loss, we see every stage of grief, and she nails them all.
Beyond the heralded stars, however, the minor characters help to carry the plot. Buck (Peter Boyle) leaves us cold as Hank's racist father when his conversations properly reveal their embittered lifestyle. Mos Def shows us the black perspective of Southern life as Ryrus Cooper, an auto-mechanic with two kids that live on the lot adjacent to Hank's. I have a feeling we will see him in another film soon.
"Monster's Ball" takes viewers on a topsy-turvy ride, but it gives us a chance to stop and breathe. It gives us new perspectives, but it doesn't make up our mind. Its exemplary acting makes it both intense drama and eventually, blissful romance.
I recommend "Monster's Ball" for people who have been through a lot (or have seen a lot). The mature themes make it too visually jarring for the immature viewer, and the sex scenes border on pornographic. But for the right viewer, the film's emotionally charged sequences give it more than adequate punch to wake us up and show us that our own lives are not really all that horrible.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
