Monster «««½
R, 109m. 2003
Cast & Credits: Charlize Theron (Aileen), Christina Ricci (Selby), Bruce Dern (Thomas) Lee Tergesen (Vincent Corey), Annie Corley (Donna). Written and directed by Patty Jenkins.
If there was ever such a mad scientist as Dr. Frankenstein, it’s a good bet his macabre creation would look a lot like Aileen Wuornos, chillingly portrayed by an almost unrecognizable Charlize Theron. In Monster, Theron plays the infamous highway prostitute who was convicted of murdering several of her male clientele back in the late 1980s and sentenced to death.
Theron’s Wuornos looks every bit like a “Monster” donning old street clothes with knotted, greasy hair that makes one tell she’s been out streetwalking in the rain too much or has rarely ever used shampoo. If she’d shed a few pounds, add some make-up, or maybe learn how not to apply so much to her face, and not wear the same pair of jeans and shirts all the time, chances are she might be a great looking tomboy. Or Marilyn Monroe, the movie star she wants to be like.
The blood-curdling cry Wuornos lets out after killing the guy who brutally raped her in the film is enough to send a chill down one’s spine, perhaps enough to make her inhuman? At one point, she spares the life of one of her “johns” most likely because he is handicapped with a speech impediment. Then just when you think this creature might actually be capable of kindness, or mercy, she unrelentingly pulls the trigger on another who pleads for his life telling her how he has a grandchild on the way.
Theron’s performance here is completely opposite from her roles in the past like The Devil’s Advocate (1997) or last summer’s sleeper box office hit, The Italian Job (2002), where she didn’t have to do much in terms of altering her looks. Here, she accomplishes just what Oscar winner Nicole Kidman did last year playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002) where the character she played looked nothing like the actress in real life.
For almost two hours, I was convinced we’re looking at not just an actress playing a role but an actual person. Watching Theron’s Wuornos act tough trying to start a fight with a male restaurant owner who just wants her to kindly put out her cigarette would get laughs if we hadn’t witnessed seeing her snuff out a couple of “johns” in the forest days before. Because we know what horror she’s capable of committing, the scene just isn’t funny and is much more dramatically effective.
I will admit there were some moments watching her on screen where I knew this was Charlize Theron. Seeing her down to her underwear, for example, changing into the same clothes she wore the day before, I got the feeling that maybe she didn’t really gain any weight for this part. It’s a notion that goes out the window the moment we see how hefty she looks when she’s with her new friend, Selby (Christina Ricci), skating at the neighborhood rink.
The filmmakers could have easily adapted this independent project into something like Natural Born Killers (1994) where the murderers have no remorse and little regard for human life. Where so much blood is spilled, you almost feel as if you need to take a shower afterwards. Or they could have gone the route the Dr. Lecter trilogy (Red Dragon - 2002, Silence of the Lambs - 1991, Hannibal - 2001) follows where the main point behind making the movies borders on either trying to keep the audience in suspense or find perverted ways to make them toss our lunch.
What makes Monster different is despite being an autobiography the focus is not necessarily on Wuornos’ murderous exploits. The film is more of a twisted, tragic, unattractive lesbian love story heightened by memorable 80s tunes from such singers as Blondie, INXS, Duran Duran and Journey. This is a movie about two outcasts looking to be loved and accepted by a society that wants nothing to do with them.
On one hand, there is Wuornos, a streetwalker who’s been hooking since she was 13, whose only friend is an alcoholic (Bruce Dern), whom she rents a storage facility from as her home, and who desperately wants love and affection. On the other hand is Ricci’s Selby, a sad, wide-eyed 18-year-old with short black hair who clearly looks so out of place at the local lesbian bar she frequents that the only question she’s asked is if the chair beside her has been taken. All she wants is someone to talk to. It’s almost as if Wuornos and Selby were made for each other.
I found it hard to believe this unglamorous prostitute doesn’t once think about taking advantage of Selby’s kindness and friendship the moment the two lay eyes on each other. Wuornos sees Selby as her reason for hoping to go straight and perhaps one day find a good paying job.
When Selby asks her what she’d like to do, Wuornos says she’d like to be a veterinarian or president of the United States.
That’s easier said than done, however, as society doesn’t give Wuornos the chance to prove herself. When she tries to tell an employment worker she had a criminal record, the office worker tells her the most she could possibly get is a factory job. When a lawyer interviews her for secretarial work, the guy berates Wuornos about how she has no education, thus fueling her rage towards men even more.
Watching this brought to mind the familiar line Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone spoke in The Godfather: Part III (1990) when he attempted to finally go straight. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
It isn’t long before Aileen is back out on the streets hooking to get money and coming home with different cars that force Selby to begin asking questions.
People think of serial killers as “monsters” and maybe rightfully so. It’s understandable why some people would not want to see a movie like this. Like Bill Paxton’s clever murder mystery, Frailty (2001), whose plot was about a widowed father who raises his two kids to become serial killers, I wouldn’t be surprised if some potential viewers ask themselves, “Where is the entertainment in watching Monster?” I asked myself that same question when I saw Monster and when the film was over, I learned the plot synopsis barely scratched the surface on what the film was really about.
What makes director Patty Jenkins’ Monster unique is this is a movie about a couple of lost tortured souls who aren’t so much ugly creatures as they are tragically flawed human beings with feelings.br />
©2/24/04
R, 109m. 2003
Cast & Credits: Charlize Theron (Aileen), Christina Ricci (Selby), Bruce Dern (Thomas) Lee Tergesen (Vincent Corey), Annie Corley (Donna). Written and directed by Patty Jenkins.
Theron’s Wuornos looks every bit like a “Monster” donning old street clothes with knotted, greasy hair that makes one tell she’s been out streetwalking in the rain too much or has rarely ever used shampoo. If she’d shed a few pounds, add some make-up, or maybe learn how not to apply so much to her face, and not wear the same pair of jeans and shirts all the time, chances are she might be a great looking tomboy. Or Marilyn Monroe, the movie star she wants to be like.
The blood-curdling cry Wuornos lets out after killing the guy who brutally raped her in the film is enough to send a chill down one’s spine, perhaps enough to make her inhuman? At one point, she spares the life of one of her “johns” most likely because he is handicapped with a speech impediment. Then just when you think this creature might actually be capable of kindness, or mercy, she unrelentingly pulls the trigger on another who pleads for his life telling her how he has a grandchild on the way.
Theron’s performance here is completely opposite from her roles in the past like The Devil’s Advocate (1997) or last summer’s sleeper box office hit, The Italian Job (2002), where she didn’t have to do much in terms of altering her looks. Here, she accomplishes just what Oscar winner Nicole Kidman did last year playing Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002) where the character she played looked nothing like the actress in real life.
For almost two hours, I was convinced we’re looking at not just an actress playing a role but an actual person. Watching Theron’s Wuornos act tough trying to start a fight with a male restaurant owner who just wants her to kindly put out her cigarette would get laughs if we hadn’t witnessed seeing her snuff out a couple of “johns” in the forest days before. Because we know what horror she’s capable of committing, the scene just isn’t funny and is much more dramatically effective.
I will admit there were some moments watching her on screen where I knew this was Charlize Theron. Seeing her down to her underwear, for example, changing into the same clothes she wore the day before, I got the feeling that maybe she didn’t really gain any weight for this part. It’s a notion that goes out the window the moment we see how hefty she looks when she’s with her new friend, Selby (Christina Ricci), skating at the neighborhood rink.
The filmmakers could have easily adapted this independent project into something like Natural Born Killers (1994) where the murderers have no remorse and little regard for human life. Where so much blood is spilled, you almost feel as if you need to take a shower afterwards. Or they could have gone the route the Dr. Lecter trilogy (Red Dragon - 2002, Silence of the Lambs - 1991, Hannibal - 2001) follows where the main point behind making the movies borders on either trying to keep the audience in suspense or find perverted ways to make them toss our lunch.
What makes Monster different is despite being an autobiography the focus is not necessarily on Wuornos’ murderous exploits. The film is more of a twisted, tragic, unattractive lesbian love story heightened by memorable 80s tunes from such singers as Blondie, INXS, Duran Duran and Journey. This is a movie about two outcasts looking to be loved and accepted by a society that wants nothing to do with them.
On one hand, there is Wuornos, a streetwalker who’s been hooking since she was 13, whose only friend is an alcoholic (Bruce Dern), whom she rents a storage facility from as her home, and who desperately wants love and affection. On the other hand is Ricci’s Selby, a sad, wide-eyed 18-year-old with short black hair who clearly looks so out of place at the local lesbian bar she frequents that the only question she’s asked is if the chair beside her has been taken. All she wants is someone to talk to. It’s almost as if Wuornos and Selby were made for each other.
I found it hard to believe this unglamorous prostitute doesn’t once think about taking advantage of Selby’s kindness and friendship the moment the two lay eyes on each other. Wuornos sees Selby as her reason for hoping to go straight and perhaps one day find a good paying job.
When Selby asks her what she’d like to do, Wuornos says she’d like to be a veterinarian or president of the United States.
That’s easier said than done, however, as society doesn’t give Wuornos the chance to prove herself. When she tries to tell an employment worker she had a criminal record, the office worker tells her the most she could possibly get is a factory job. When a lawyer interviews her for secretarial work, the guy berates Wuornos about how she has no education, thus fueling her rage towards men even more.
Watching this brought to mind the familiar line Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone spoke in The Godfather: Part III (1990) when he attempted to finally go straight. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
It isn’t long before Aileen is back out on the streets hooking to get money and coming home with different cars that force Selby to begin asking questions.
People think of serial killers as “monsters” and maybe rightfully so. It’s understandable why some people would not want to see a movie like this. Like Bill Paxton’s clever murder mystery, Frailty (2001), whose plot was about a widowed father who raises his two kids to become serial killers, I wouldn’t be surprised if some potential viewers ask themselves, “Where is the entertainment in watching Monster?” I asked myself that same question when I saw Monster and when the film was over, I learned the plot synopsis barely scratched the surface on what the film was really about.
What makes director Patty Jenkins’ Monster unique is this is a movie about a couple of lost tortured souls who aren’t so much ugly creatures as they are tragically flawed human beings with feelings.br />
©2/24/04
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