Movies

This is a rare achievement, Monster's Ball, a film that relies on its characters' internal lives and the audiences' intelligence to read between the lines - deeply between the lines. A profound experience that will change anyone who sees it with an open, compassionate, life-educated mind.

"Monster's Ball" tells of a white man and a black woman in the rural South coming together through desperate human need; each suffering grief, guilt, remorse, and misery. A slow, plodding drama with rumbling racial undercurrents, the film tells a simple story, though not uneventful, with finely nuanced performances, especially by Berry who earned her keep and kudos. Recommended for mature audiences into serious drama.

Reviewed July 2010Monster's ball is a conventional sad movie which has those sad moments falling in place so conveniently. So as a story, it neither has freshness nor it is smart but has easy pacing. But all these can be overlooked because of terrific performances from the lead pair especially Halle Berry (Leticia Musgrove) and watching her act left me in awe. Sadness of loss was shown in the most hard hitting way though it is a bit melodramatic. The initial part of the movie about Leticia's husband (P. Diddy) last day in prison before he gets executed is so gritty and moving. Thornton and Ledger deliver their usual best. I could not think of anything that could make the movie better, but it still stands as an example for how an ordinary movie can be elevated by brilliant performances.