‎A Monster Calls (2016) directed by J. A. Bayona • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

A Monster Calls

2016 Directed by J. A. Bayona

Stories are wild creatures.

A boy imagines a monster that helps him deal with his difficult life and see the world in a different way.

Lewis MacDougall Sigourney Weaver Felicity Jones Toby Kebbell Liam Neeson Ben Moor James Melville Oliver Steer Dominic Boyle Jennifer Lim Max Gabbay Joe Curtis Morgan Symes Max Golds Frida Palsson Wanda Opalinska Patrick Taggart Lily-Rose Aslandogdu Geraldine Chaplin

Alternative Titles

Un monstruo viene a verme, Часът на чудовището, Sete Minutos Depois da Meia-Noite, 7 דקות אחרי חצות, Monster Calls, 7 Minuti dopo la Mezzanotte, 怪物召唤, Váratlan jóbarát, 恶魔呼唤

drama fantasy

108 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★ 2

Weird GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY prequel about how the tree man helps young Star Lord deal with his mom dying.
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 12

Pan's Labyrinth for kids dealing with cancer. dark, dull, and didactic, but could be helpful to those in need. do yourself a favor and see KUBO instead.

and now, the unfairness: my dad died of cancer a few months ago. this film gets a lot of the inner turmoil right (and crucially so), but if your cancer-related tearjerker does nothing for me at this point... that's on you.
Review by Evan ★★★½ 3

TIFF 2016 Film #13

A Monster Calls touched the depths of my soul. Visually stunning, well acted, and filled with emotion this film had me fully engaged. I was pretty much in tears the entirety of the final 20 minutes and so was everyone else. You could hear the sniffling echoing through out the theater. I won't spoil it, but this one line absolutely wrecked me to my core. While most of the emotion is earned, I will say that it is somewhat manipulative.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 4

A fantasy about the all-too real ways humans deal with loss, Juan Antonio Bayona's "A Monster Calls" offers a cinematic heart that beats with anger, sadness, and inspiring vigor. Based on Patrick Ness's novel, the film the tells the story of a young boy whose struggle with life and loss reflect the universal education that is human existence.

Revolving around young Conor O'Malley, "A Monster Calls" finds the boy dealing with school bullies, a cantankerous grandmother, and, most importantly, a dying mother. Conor spends his days caring, as best he can, for his mother, drawing, and recoiling from both literal and figurative nightmares. When a monstrous, lumbering tree with fiery eyes appears at his window, Conor begins a journey that…
Review by Steve G 💚 ★★★★ 4

My 9 year old daughter's enthusiasm for seeing A Monster Calls after being rather excited by the trailers for it we had seen wasn't quite treated to the tale about a friendly talking tree that saves a boy from being bullied that she hoped it would be.

"That wasn't quite what I expected," she commented as we exited the cinema. "But it was really, really good!"

The fact that she spent practically the whole film perched on the edge of her seat was clue enough to me that she really enjoyed it, and understandably so. It's not quite like any film she had watched before or that we had watched together (we watch one together every Saturday, at the cinema…
Review by CJ Probst ★★★★ 7

All those years ago I remember sitting in the theater watching The Lord of the Rings, looking around and thinking, "Man, I really don't love these as much as everyone else in here." I recognized them as a spectacular achievement but was rather bored through them, just not for me. My least favorite parts of those films were the talking tree scenes. Every time one of those tedious bastards showed up that was my cue to shuffle my way out of the auditorium for a piss.

Sooooooo, A Monster Calls felt a little bit like an Ent trying his goddamned hardest to make me cry for just under two hours. As I was at a bit of a disadvantage due…

Recent reviews

Review by MoviePenguin ★★★★

I didn't expect to be this affected by it...but here I am.
What seemed like a typical tale of acceptance slowly but surely turned into something quite beautiful and truly touching.
It is filled with stellar and emotional acting.
It really came sneaking up on me, and I can already tell that it's going to stick with me for a few days.
And that's when you know a movie is goddamn good.
Review by Panwa6601 ★★★

I'm pretty sure I was meant to like this film but aside from some decent performances and a few inventive moments which feel a bit like mainstream Del Toro, I though it was rather average.
Review by Mohmmed Ateeg ★★★½

وحش ينادي
من منا ليس لديه وحش يناديه من منا ليس لديه كوابيس من منا لايعاني الم الفقدان قبل ان يحدث الم معاناه يجعلنا حبيسين ارواحنا وحيدين انه الموت البطئ هنا الوقفه هنا لابد ان نزلزل عالمنا لابد ان نصحى كيف لانصحى وقد كنا في سبات طويل
اليوم هو يوم القيامة
قيامة من غفله
قيامة من تجاهل
لابد ان نصحى
وان نعرف الحياة نهايتها فراق
لابد ان نتقبل لابد ان نعيش
وان نترك المفارق في سلام
متمنين اللقاء ولو بعد حين.

فلم رائع ملئ بالحكّم ملئ بالعاطفة درس من دروس الحياة لن تتعلمها الا حتى تقع فيها

تقييمي ٨/١٠
Review by Ana ★★½

No he llorado tanto con una peli desde coco
Review by Jesse🙋🏼‍♂️ ★★★★

I watched this on a train and bawled my eyes out. Never cried publicly, so that’s new. Thanks for that.
Review by suzana ★★★

quase um pan's labyrinth (2006)
Review by jay ★★★★★

this was so beautifully made. never thought a movie could ever beat a book it was based on but this on came really close
Review by LadyMichelle ★★★★★

So unexpectedly beautiful and utterly heartbreaking. It's been a while since I've seen a movie that surprised me like this one. Liam Neeson is a perfect fit. And Lewis MacDougall is extremely talented as best displayed in the final scene. Where he displays a whirlwind of emotions without saying a word.
Review by asma_aa

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