![]() The Harmon in the novel stands at a far cry from the Steve in the film, the latter of whom has far less of a sense of his own humanity and goals. ![]() Steve’s relaying of experience to the reader is deeply subjective, blistering, and rough, his interactions with acquaintances filtered through an unmistakably personal voice. Of much import to the form and function of the novel is its dissection of truth. Monster wants to be about so many things, including the American legal system, Harlem, and race relations. Steve is arrested for murder and must contend with – and figure a way out of – his new environment that could all too easily become a permanent one. He gets chummy with wise gang member Will King (A$AP Rocky, who is utterly charming), who allegedly enlists Steve into a robbery scheme that turns bloody. Mandler’s debut feature (he’s a music video director, and it shows) depicts the story of Steve Harmon (a solid Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a 17-year-old film student at one of Harlem’s most prestigious schools. Monster dulls down the complex questions posed in Myers’ novel by painting its answers in broad, grayscale strokes, forgoing any deep examination of truth or character in favor of visual aesthetic. Its delayed-release comes off as an enigma, one that ideally points to refreshing vision of an engaging story, but more likely invokes virtue signaling and even opportunism. Said outcome can’t be what director Anthony Mandler had in mind for his debut feature Monster, out on Netflix today. But since Monster’s premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, its pickup in 2019, and its re-pickup and distribution in 2021 on Netflix, this intriguing gift has apparently been shelved, then boxed up and shoved into the attic corner. I’d imagine film industry bigwigs and Hollywood writers alike must have seen this structure as a gift on a silver platter. The 1999 National Book Award nominee interweaves stylings of first-person diary entries with the screenplay format to contrast subjective and objective narrative beats. It’s almost groaningly unsurprising to see that Walter Dean Myers’ novel Monster was adapted into a movie. ![]() By Brooks Whitlock 7 months ago Follow Tweet
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