A Monster Calls is the story of a 12-year-old boy ( “too old to be a kid, too young to be man”) trying to come to terms with the fact that his mother is dying. Its extraordinary power lies in the interweaving of the fantastical and the everyday.
Adapted from Patrick Ness’s novel, this is a very British affair, set in a small provincial town ( it is isn’t specified exactly where) but the film is made by a Spanish director JA Bayona, known for his visual flamboyance.
The boy, Conor O’Malley ( Lewis MacDougall) , has a wretched life. He is bullied at school by classmates who resent his habit of escaping off into his own “little dream world”. He doesn’t like his grandmother ( Sigourney Weaver) , who is assuming a more and more prominent role in his upbringing as his mother Lizzie ( Felicity Jones) becomes weaker and weaker.