PAGE 4 Weekender Magazine MOVIES February 8, 2002 'Ball' 83 not to be ignored By JOE BALTAKE Scripps-McClatchy Western Service "Monster's Ball," directed by the Swiss filmmaker Mare Forster, is an extremely effective but rather -handed melodrama about desperate, frus- NOW PLAYING trated pooEach of Title: Monsters ple. is Ball them Stars: Eli; Rot; metaphoriEn. mi cally boxed H. in by his or Lobe: Peter Boy poo her OWn Rated: 'Hi prison tle. clammy cells COnstructed of Length: loc min equal parts Where: 1 1.
1 hate. pain and 19110- rance and the aching loneliness that inevitably comes with all three. "Monster's Ball" drills at us the same way a dentist goes al your teeth. creating pain but for a greater good. To say that it isn't exactly "audience.
friendly" is an understatement, but it's hard not to admire a movie that doesn't waver in its beliefs or coddle its viewers. Forster and his scenarists, Milo Addica and Will Rokos. tell two parallel stories one stylized, the other realistic about parents and sons and the bad stuff that a parent unthinkingly bequeaths to a child. They creatively interweave these two narratives, bringing them together as two of its characters both damaged souls grow closer. FROM THE DIRECTOR OF DOE Voted Best Video Store In The High Desert By The Readers Of The BLOCKBUSTER Daily Press doses but mostly browbeating and literally beating him because of his weight.
It's clear that Forster doesn't expect us to like Hank or Leticia, but he's constructed his film so carefully and with so much insight that we become empathetic towards them in spite of ourselves. The venom that fills the Grotowski household is the reason Hank is the way he is, and Leticia is only showing Tyrell the same abuse that followed her throughout her life. "Monster's Ball" is set up in such a way that it's inevitable that these two will meet. It's about the coming together of Hank, a vicious racist, and Leticia, a bruised black woman. When these two do converge.
it's explosive. They converge sexually in a sequence in which both of them finally let go and free themselves of all the hurt that has left them sickened through much of their lives. By the time of their shared catharsis, you'll feel as if you've done time and, when the film is over, you'll feel liberated. You hope that Hank and Loticia will get out alive. Wh.it we're uncertain about whether they'll enjoy their new freedom together.
Both characters find redemption with the most unlikely people. The Associated Press Halle Berry, left, stars as Leticia Musgrove and Billy Bob Thornton as Hank Grotowski in 'Monster's One of them is Hank Girotowski (Billy Bob Thornton), a racist corrections officer who comes from a family of racist corrections officers. Hank lives wifeless with his evil old father, Buck (Peter Boyle), and Hank's own benumbed, dead-eyed son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), in some dusty small town in Georgia whose prison seems to be the leading industry. Buck is a retired prison guard and Hank and Sonny both work on death row. "Monster's Ball" is a refer- Rodke4 Theatres.com Skyline Drive In Theatre 31175 Old Hwy 50.
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