REVIEW: MONSTER

4/5

When They See Him.

98 Mins. Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Tim Blake Nelson, Rakim 'A$AP Rocky' Mayers, Nasir Jones, Jharrel Jerome, John David Washington, Jennifer Hudson & Jeffrey Wright. Director: Anthony Mandler. 

What do you see when you look at the picture above? If you think anything less than a man then it's time you read 'Between The World And Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates, or watched Ava DuVernay's documentary '13th' on Netflix like 'When They See Us'. Or look to last year...or better yet at yourself in the mirror. Black Lives STILL Matter more than a trend or what some thought was the end of this movement last year. People are still marching and no one should stand in their way. That's the real monster here. Hovering menacingly over progress like a dark cloud. But it's not black...it's white. And it looks a lot like privilege. To those who even look remotely like this, it's time to change your viewpoint. For us to learn to see each other as a brother. Instead of what poet Tupac Shakur and an Oscar winning Netflix short told us about as, 'Two Distant Strangers'. It's been a length of time since this former Sundance hit has seen the light of the day. But now in 2021 following a year rife with police brutality and social justice protests Netflix have acquired the rights for this film for the world to see. Call this 'Monster' (a critical courtroom drama like no other also found in other countries as an 'All Rise' declaration) a beast of a movie. Call it a monster hit. Even call it the same name as 'The Old Guard' Charlize Theron's 2003 classic. Just don't call this man a monster. He's a human being. And a good one at that. He's just a kid. When will they see that? 

Based on the book of the same name by 'Fallen Angels' and five-time Coretta Scott King award for African-American authors Walter Dean Myers and produced by actor Jeffrey Wright, rapper Nasir Jones (who both appear in the movie significantly with powerful poignancy) and the Oscar winning 'Glory' of singer/songwriter John Legend who provides another thought-provoking classic for the closing credits reflection, 'Fall From Grace'. This 'Monster' adapted from Radha Blank's ('The 40 Year Old Version') screenplay with Cole Wiley and Janece Shaffer, directed by Anthony Mandler (in his directing debut about to be 'Surrounded' by more) of Rihanna music video ('Unfaithful' and 'Diamonds') and Entertainment Weekly, ESPN, Esquire and GQ photographic frame and fame focuses on a young photographer who narrates his own story as if he scripting it. But flip this, despite the prosecuting attorney's abhorrent accusations that he likes to make stories up for a living, this budding filmmaker is the real deal like the art imitating life and vice versa director of this life under a lens of stereotype that plays against type. Giving us a profile of a person that shows this could have been anyone profiled at the wrong stop and search or moment stuck in the crosshairs of the blue and white. Stopped and searched because they fit the description of discrimination. And to those who have out their hands down and unclenched their fists of power in solidarity now the likes have stopped coming across their social media platforms, if you're tired of seeing these types of stories, then how do you think the people who have the police who know nothing about them making up their ones like planted evidence or bullshit "justifiable cause" feel? Stories like this need to be told because they matter more. Just like the lives of those taken too soon and far too illegally and unjustly. The lives that should go on like these narratives will until our collective hope really brings change. 

Let's hear it for 'It Comes At Night' star Kelvin Harrison Jr. Because after small but significant roles in the likes of 'Enders Game' and the monumental '12 Years A Slave' this is his movie...in more ways than one. Making 'Waves' like he did in said movie as the 'Luce' star shows he is no longer one hit away. This is the movie and moment that will make him a mainstream name, but what's more important is the names of those just like the character that he is playing. Say them. It's a deeply felt and earned performance that shouldn't have missed the Academy, just because it wasn't the "trend" for them to tick these sort of boxes back then and honor performers and performances of power like this for their own back-patting. There's also an incredible and inspired performance from Broadway star, Tony and BAFTA award winner and 'Pride and Prejudice', 'The Kings Speech', 'Zero Dark Thirty' and the most scariest film of all-time (even before last year...and I used to haaate horror movies), 'Contagion' star, Jennifer Ehle that will sit next to both Netflix's 'The Fundamentals Or Caring' and 'The Miseducation Of Cameron Post' as one of her most affecting roles. 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs', 'Just Mercy' and new 'Watchmen' series platinum character actor Tim Blake Nelson also scores as a terrific teacher educating his students on owning their own story, no matter what people say or think. But it's rapper/actor Rakim Mayes (I had no idea his real name was Rakim, no wonder he changed it going in. That was already taken by the God MC) AKA A$AP Rocky who really earns rave reviews here. Leaving a mark like his own legal nightmares in Sweden would a year later. Get this man in another movie...ASAP. Nasir Jones or the 'Illmatic' Nas as you better know him coming off his 'Kings Disease' last year shows he 'Stillmatic' still has it as a wise and weary friend in prison. We'd love to see the 'Belly' co-star of DMX (rest peacefully) at the table of more script-reads. Even 'Tenet' and 'BlackKklansman' megastar John David Washington (who most recently appeared in the critically underrated and wrongfully nomination ignored 'Malcolm and Marie' with Zendaya on Netflix) and 'When They See Us' breakout talent Jharrel Jerome (who most recently rode with 'Stranger Things' coming of age star Caleb McLaughlin in Netflix's 'Concrete Cowboy' with Idris Elba) take the stand in against type, but scarily good performances. But it's the trademark restrained passion (even more punctuated with powerless hurt and undeniable conviction of confliction) of 'Westworld' and forthcoming new Commissioner Gordon of 'The Batman', Jeffrey Wright (so good and so different in Netflix's exploration of the other side of the prison walls for a young black man in 'All Day and a Night') and 'Dreamgirls' Oscar winner and forthcoming Aretha Franklin 'Respect' biopic star Jennifer Hudson as proud, but profoundly hurt parents that really sings. As we listen and learn that so much matters in this movie like the real lives in reflection that it portrays through the shutters. Timely, but still so pressingly urgent, 'Monster' first roared it's message in 2018. That's two years before everything that happened last year. Go figure. Why? Because this type of thing has been happening for centuries and will continue if we let it. Don't let it. Let's keep protesting and protecting. Reaching to the heavens with a fist that doesn't hit, but fights for peace. Until we are no longer scared of the real monsters who lie and hide under more than our beds. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'When They See Us', 'All Day And A Night', 'Two Distant Strangers'.