Monster (2003) Dir: Patty Jenkins
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The story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos is a truly harrowing and upsetting one, not only for the crimes she committed, but the awful things that happened to her before and during that time. This Patty Jenkins thriller depicts many of these events, mainly through the lense of her romantic life.
As someone with an interest in true crime, I was interested to see how this would be presented. For the most part, I think Jenkins did this well. I liked how she didn't shy away from showing both sides of Wuornos' personality, as well as how both choice and circumstance took her down the path it did. It was an understandably heavy film, but it really had to be.
The soundtrack and cinematography worked in tandem to create and maintain the feel of Aileen's world. The film is not conventionally pretty, but it does what it needs to, and the prosthetics used to create the unique features of Wuornos were superb.
Charlize Theron won numerous awards for her portrayal of the infamous killer, including the Academy Award for Best Actress - all of which were very much deserved, in my view. She got the voice and mannerisms spot on, and everything from her body language to eyes told the story of the tumultuous and spiralling emotions of her role.
Christina Ricci played off of Theron wonderfully well, and it would be easy to miss just how good a performance Ricci gave, with such a powerhouse one from her co-star. However, I thought she did a very fine job, especially when it came to presenting her character's more intense and emotional scenes.
Of the fairly limited supporting cast, the two standouts were Bruce Dern and Annie Corley, who provided some very well acted scenes, although seeing Dern dressed as an average bar-goer took me a little off guard. Regardless, both were solid enough, in my opinion.
Overall, while these kind of films are, by nature, difficult to watch, I thought this one was executed pretty well. It didn't glorify its protagonist, nor did it sympathise with them too much - it struck the correct balance, I thought. The leading performances made this film a lot better, without a shadow of a doubt, but I'd say it would be a good film anyways.
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