Friday, June 3, 2011

Monster (2003)

Biographical movies don't come out all that often, but when they do, they're usually inspirational stories. They're tales of respected celebrities who've conquered personal demons or of people who have overcome tremendous adversity. A lot of them are either critical darlings or box office successes, but there are some that don't really come up in conversation. Some are made for TV or select markets, but others don't have a very mainstream subject matter. These are the ones that focus on serial killers.

Notorious murderers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, and the BTK Killer have had their crimes turned into movies, either as biographies of the killers or as docudramas about their activities. And practically all of them have flown under the radar with direct-to-video releases. Some of them do reach wider audiences, as evidenced by Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and David Fincher's Zodiac. But I'd go as far as to say that the king of them all is Monster, Patty Jenkins's Oscar-winning movie about a hooker who murdered seven men between 1989 and 1990. It's an absolutely captivating movie that's well worth the watch.

The star of the story is Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron), a prostitute whose life has been one long and rocky road of abuse and tragedy. As the movie begins, we find her sitting beneath a highway overpass contemplating suicide. But she figures she might as well spend her last five dollars before she does the deed, figuring that if she doesn't, then her last john would have practically gotten her services for free.

Aileen stumbles into a gay bar, and ends up finding a friend in Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), a meek, lonely young woman whose family has shunned her for being a lesbian. And despite Aileen insisting she's straight, they quickly fall for one another. But because she doesn't have much money to support them, Aileen's inability to find a legitimate job means that she has to keep selling her body to passing motorists to score some cash.

This ends up being a tremendously bad job choice. One john in particular rapes and brutally beats her, and Aileen shoots him to death in self-defense. She steals his car and money, enough to get her and Selby a motel room for a week. But soon the cash will run out, prompting Aileen to start murdering her clients so she can rob them.

Though very good, Monster is also an odd film. It doesn't go as far as to fully excuse or justify Aileen Wuornos's crimes, but it does depict her with a certain level of empathy. Writer/director Patty Jenkins obviously wants us to feel for Wuornos, seeming to imply that while she was a stone cold killer, she probably wouldn't have ended up that way it weren't for all the hell she'd gone through in her life. And it's kinda hard to ignore that the real Wuornos was at least slightly mentally ill (though deemed competent enough to stand trial), but Jenkins appears to want we the viewer to see Wuornos as someone who could never catch a lucky break. Wuornos was unloved, sexually abused, turning tricks at the age of fourteen. Her whole life was a downward spiral from practically day one, and I think Jenkins captured that.

While Jenkins does take a few liberties with the known facts for the sake of drama (and some for legal reasons, such as Wuornos's girlfriend being an entirely different person in the movie), she does craft a rather compelling story. Though her script is rough around the edges, her direction is more sound. Monster is Jenkins's only feature film, and I'd actually like to see her make another one because she shows a lot of promise. It's apparent that the movie was a low-budget affair, made for less than ten million dollars, but Jenkins puts it together like a pro. She manages to get some great cinematography from Steven Bernstein and gorgeous music from BT (the stage name of musician Brian Transeau), creating a movie that is stellar from a production standpoint.

But Jenkins's work is drastically overshadowed by her two primary actresses. Though her character could have been written stronger, Christina Ricci still puts forth a very credible performance as a naïve young woman who gets in way over her head. But the true star of the show is Charlize Theron as Aileen. Theron's performance is fascinating to watch, as she actually becomes Aileen Wuornos. While much had been said at the time about her makeup and weight gain for the movie (trading her gorgeous appearance for a more homely one), what's more impressive is how much effort she puts into her performance.

Theron is absolutely captivating to watch, playing the role with an intensity that nobody guessed the actress had in her. She had previously been just some pretty blonde lady that happened to be in some movies. But once the movie gets rolling, you'll feel like you're actually watching the real Aileen Wuornos instead of an actress portraying her. It's like they actually brought Wuornos back to life and dropped her off at the set. Theron has all of her tics and mannerisms down to a T, and plays the role with such an unrelenting ferocity that she is unstoppable. It's a powerful bit of acting, worthy of the Oscar that Theron was awarded and worthy of being called one of the best performances of this young century.

Monster would have probably faded into obscurity had it not been for the strength of its lead actress. There's absolutely no doubting that Theron carries the entire movie. But even beyond her absolutely amazing performance, Monster is still a damn fine movie. The movie definitely isn't a fun movie to watch, but it's a movie that won't let you turn away from it once you start. And I'm going to give the movie a recommendation to see it just to see how amazing Theron's performance is. If you want evidence that one person can make a good movie an awesome one, it's Monster.

Final Rating: ****

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