Monster (怪物) - Finding The Unknown Things

When talking about Japanese monsters in general, we know them as bakemono (化け物), but there is also another term for monsters which is kaibutsu (怪物). Which makes me wonder about this 2023 film which also had its premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Starring Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, and Yūko Tanaka, initially it feels like a thriller or horror film because of its trailer. But I guess it was intended to redirect the expectation for the storyline which has a very interesting twist.

Initially, the story tells the complicated relationship between mother and child, classmates and their teacher, the school and back to their families. The problems arose with the changes in Minato (Sōya Kurokawa) was noticed by his mother, Saori (Sakura Andō) and this prompted her to investigate the involvement of his teacher Hori (Eita Nagayama) and classmate Hoshikawa (Hinata Hiiragi). Things gets more complicated as more secrets and atrocities are revealed.