Monkey Film Movie
Yamila Comejo
The Monkey is an upcoming American supernatural horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins and starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy. It is based on the 1980 short story by Stephen King.
After stumbling upon their father's vintage toy monkey in the attic, twin brothers Hal and Bill witness a string of horrifying deaths unfolding around them. In an attempt to leave the haunting behind, the brothers opt to discard the monkey and pursue separate paths over time. However, when the inexplicable deaths resurface, the brothers are compelled to reconcile and embark on a mission to permanently eliminate the cursed toy.[2]
Going into the 2023 Cannes Film Market, financer Black Bear Pictures announced that a film adaptation of Stephen King's short story "The Monkey" was in development and up for sale to distributors.[3] Osgood Perkins was hired to write and direct and was produced by James Wan under his Atomic Monster banner. According to the US Copyright Office, the project was previously in development in 2022 at Searchlight Pictures.[4] Theo James was cast in the lead role.[2] In March 2024, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy were revealed to have joined the cast.[5]
In May 2024, Neon won a bidding war between multiple US distributors for domestic rights at the March du Film and set a theatrical release date for 2025.[8] The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on February 21, 2025.[9]
Similar to this film itself, we will forgo a traditional expository opening and instead opt to dive right into the subject matter. We do so hoping that this review will benefit from such a move just as much as the movie did.
The crew dealt with broken cameras, shooting on GoPros and smartphones, and personal credit card usage among location losses to get this film done. There are a few moments that these elements are clear in the film, but in almost all cases it adds to the intimate feel.
While trying to seek vengeance against the ultra-nationalist Indian elite, Kid struggles with confidence and planning. We follow his journey through near-death experiences and, in one of the least-expected turns, a temple for Hijra people, the third gender in India.
Kid experiences grief and anxiety. He feels anger toward the elite who have recklessly and carelessly slaughtered people to make their own ends meet. In this story about avenging the powerless in India, we see a striking film filled with representation for religious minorities and transgender people.
How much of this movie was just the natural behavior being observed in the wild, being explained for what it really was, and how much was "man made" or manipulated, or filmed in a way as to make things appear to follow the plot of the story rather than what naturally would be happening?
They do so much and every single animal is doing something interesting pretty much all the time [so] that if you don't stay focused, after 2 1/2 years of filming in the field, which is what we spent, you would just end up with hundreds of hours of just wonderful material but not being able to make head or tail of it. So you really have to decide which characters to follow. And once you've committed to them, of course, you hope that their story becomes interesting.
So it all shows that how thinks work around in the production side, and they clearly stated that Dittus and Wolfgang's studies were the main help behind the documentary. And it was all filmed naturally without a script, they just used their natural behaviors to their use and might given few opportunity like a birthday party to easily crash etc else were all natural.
The film takes its time to get into the violence as well, which I greatly appreciated. The first 20 minutes of the film had us watching a man carefully planning and constructing a murder, manipulating corrupt officials and human traffickers just to get into a room where he could pull a trigger, in such a way that I was on the edge of my seat. It makes you wonder what would push a man to this point, and more importantly, what kind of monster is deserving of such a fate.
Ben Konuch is a junior Strategic Communication student and one of the A&E editors for Cedars as well as the social media lead. He enjoys getting sucked into good stories, playing video games and swing dancing in the rain.
The acting in the film is fantastic, especially seeing the diversity of its characters. Patel puts on an extremely convincing performance, both in conveying his emotions but also as a fighter during the action scenes. The film was truly gut-wrenching when it wanted to be, and we can very well attribute that to the genius of the acting.
I also would give a content warning to viewers who suffer from trauma and would rather not watch gore and violence. This film accurately portrays what it is like to live with post-traumatic stress disorder, which could be triggering to an unsuspecting viewer.
The story follows Kid, played by Patel, as he fights through the corrupt streets of India and the vast forests to find peace through an undeterred vengeance. For those familiar with other religions and myths, they will recognize the legend of the divine monkey Hanuman, the spirit of courage and strength against abuse in the world. The symbolism and contrast in the present-day is very strongly underhanded to the audience, almost begging for bigger questions about society and the power structure of the world to be called into question. The low-budget of $10 million dollars has very little to no recognizable actors to the vast majority of audiences, but easily showcases the massive talent of Patel and other stars on-screen.
Set in the 1980s, this epic tale with hints of Almodvar melodrama revolves around Amitay, a struggling writer living near a monkey park from which the movie gets its name. Envious of his more celebrated colleagues and yearning for Tamar, his childhood love now widowed, Amitay conceives a plan to revive his literary reputation. To orchestrate this comeback, he must find a young and ambitious researcher, or at least someone capable of pretending to be one. Enter Margo, a failed actress residing at her sister's home, who eagerly seizes this mysterious job opportunity. So begins the unlikely meeting of a desperate author and an eccentric young woman, a fateful encounter destined to change both of their lives.
But this is no horror movie. Adapted from the award-winning first novel by Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach is a family drama full of literary devices that might arguably work better on the page, like flashbacks in multiple time periods, ghosts, and magical spirits.
However, this helps to anchor the story in the real world, where fancier CG creations might have thrust it into fantasy. It might be more accurate to call this a faith-based film, except that unlike in most movies thusly described, the faith in question is not Christian, but Haisla spirituality.
Only in the third act do things start getting seriously mystical, with characters traversing time and the afterlife. While the story slowly builds there, it nonetheless feels like a big, bold swerve into genre from a relatively realistic setting. Though again, perhaps no more so than a Christian movie with climactic visions of Heaven.
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The usual senseless violence of the action genre was given sense with the very real context of the Indian caste system, which provides the motivation for the main character, Kid, to challenge the status quo and begin his journey to work his way up the social hierarchy. While still bloody and gory, the film grounds this violence in reality, compelling audiences to root for the underdog in a situation that speaks to a broader political and social framework.
Even though I knew that the American perception of Indian culture was not true to my experience, it still had a palpable influence on me. I still tuned in to these shows that all my friends from school were watching, but I turned to Bollywood movies for the South Asian representation I could not find on Western screens. Bollywood created a space for me to celebrate my culture in all of its beauty and feel pride instead of wallowing in the disappointment that came with watching stereotyped characters on American TV and film.
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Conclusively, while the film may not fully deliver on a story perspective due to its pacing and underdeveloped world and antagonists, there is a stunning sense of style that permeates every shot, sound and action scene.
I have always loved the movies. One of my greatest pleasures when I was young was sitting in front of the box at Christmas as a parade of fantastic family films scrolled across the handful of channels we had back then: Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Disney classics by the truck-load.
It matters because stereotypes do untold psychological damage, much of it hidden beneath the surface, like an iceberg. They promote and shore up negative perceptions and justify not only a continuing lack of equity in film but on the ground, in day-to-day life.
In addition to the thirteen films, many of which have never been seen before, the exhibition includes more than 250 works in a variety of mediums (painting, photography, film, drawing, prints, collages, notebooks, and sculpture). When I first went to the exhibition, meandering my way through the atrium and different galleries, like a pinball in slow motion, I felt as if I had inadvertently wandered into a massive all-you-can-eat buffet offering more dishes than anyone could consider. The second time I went, having already decided on what I was going to spend time with, I approached the exhibition like a tasting menu, preferring only a very small portion of the many treats being served up.
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