Yet another sunny easter treat for the British movie-goer, as we are subjected to the next in - the endlessly long - line of Hollywoods obsession with highlighting the wonderful array of serial killers that the USA has produced - it kinda makes you feel proud!
The object of our attention this time is Aileen Wuornos, who in the late eighties apparently became America' first female serial killer.
MONSTER (2004) 18 CERT
Director - Patty Jenkins Cast - Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern
Running time - an enthralling 109 mins approx
The Business End -
We begin with a voiceover introduction from the character of Wuornos (Theron) charting her troubled childhood. She talks of her dreams and aspirations to become 'somebody' or a star and to endure anything to achieve this ambition. This we see includes being beaten by her father, shunned by her girlfriends and turning tricks for the boys, before eventually becoming a homeless hooker at the tender age of just thirteen.
We leap forward then to present day (1989) and Aileen sits in the rain holding a gun, down to her last
$5 and contemplating suicide after one last beer. Abandoned and unloved - she has tried to forge emotional bonds with a number of her 'johns' - it appears that love has deemed never to grace her presence and she has had enough and is near the end.
This fate seems to be rubberstamped when she enters her last-chance saloon only to find it to be a gay venue with just a few scattered female parties. This is until a lonely stranger Selby (Ricci) joins her at the bar deperate for conversation and attention.
In the shape of the slight framed Selby, Aileen realises that salvation can be at hand and chooses to befriend her and support her against her church upbringing, her repressive father and her struggles to express her blossoming sexuality.
The two make an unlikely couple, with Selby petite and timid and Aileen large, strong and outspoken, but they commit to each other and decide to live together supporting each other in any way possible - for Aileen that means hooking.
That is until one night she is beaten, raped and on the verge of being killed by her maniac client, when she escapes from his clutches and shoots him dead. Although distraught she hides the body and steals his car and money and returns home.
As time passes she realises that the police have no suspects and that she is likely to go undiscovered and feels confident that she can continue to rob and murder her clients as an easier alternative to turning tricks and raise quicker and greater sums of money to fuel the ambition of living happily together with Selby in Florida.
Things crank up a notch as one of her victims is identified as a married police-officer and their pictures are plastered across the news bulletins, leading to a full confession to Selby and a decision to be apart until the whole thing blows over.
Spolier Alert!!!!
Suffice to say that the police do not go away and set a sting up to catch Aileen in the act and arrest and imprison her. As a final act of devotion Aileen accepts full responsibility for her actions and denies that Selby knew anything of her actions. Seeing her only once more in court - to be identified - before receiving her sentence.
Aileen Wuornos was excecuted in 2002 after 12 years on death row.
The story can be bleak and at times very graphic, but never dull or uninteresting. The relationship shared by the lead players is intense and convincing, although you can at times lack sympathy for Selby who is happy to profit from Aileens immoral gains even after the first murder is admitted to.
The character of Wuornos does show some signs of compassion, like when sparing a virgin 'John' who appears to have some social disabilities. We do however lose this sympathy with the mob style excecution of a passing samaritan, just to obtain his car.
A great deal has been made of Charlize Theron's performance as Aileen and rightly so, as she is unregognizable as the svelt oscar winning actress. She is buried under mounds of latex to produce the foul-mouthed larger than life character we see before us (think Toni Collette in Muriels Wedding with a gun). The portrayal is strong, emotional and very truthful .. you wouldn't want to bump in to her on a light night never mind a dark one.
Christina Ricci is as usual brilliant, with a very underplayed performance. Happy to drift along in the shadow of her partner and showing many child-like attributes, as shown in her previous work.
The remainder of the cast are kept brief and very much on the periphery of things. With the exception of Bruce Derns overcaring-caretaker no-one else is introduced to us in any detail. This is fine though as the central performances are enough to hold the attention for the whole experience.
Tough to watch, but worth it. Suffice to say that it doesn't and
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore - Original Language: Italian - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
I feel sorry for all the ugly actresses in the world. It's not enough the supermodels get the romantic leads, now they want the character actresses' parts as well?
Only Joking (sort of) I like Theron and this was a great review. Looking forward to seeing the film. Zx
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