Marc Forster's 2001 Southern-fried melodrama 'Monster's Ball' is now mostly known for Halle Berry's historic Oscar win for Best Actress but this penetrating drama is full of great performances that include Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger and Lion's Gate now lets us enjoy all the drama in the glory of high-def.
Director Marc Forster's career has been an interesting one to follow as it seems he has no interest in making the same film twice. First on the scene with the low-budget psychodrama 'Everything Put Together', that earned him the notice to attract talent to 'Monster's Ball', his next film, and from there he directed 'Finding Neverland', 'Stay', 'Stranger Than Fiction', 'The Kite Runner' and, of course, his next film, the Bond blockbuster-in-waiting 'Quantum of Solace'.
Unlike, say, Shyamalan, no one can ever accuse Forster of going to the same well twice, that's for sure and it's pretty impressive he went from the zilch-budget 'Everything Put Together' to the 180 million 'Quantum of Solace' in eight short years.
Despite only one slight misstep, the ambitiously flawed 'Stay', Forster has a knack for telling a story through emotion (even comedically with 'Stranger than Fiction') which is no more visible than with 'Monster's Ball'.
The film is driven by tragedy and empathy and has an intense, methodic sensibility that results in an almost demanding trance. We learn of three generations of the Grotowski family all living under the same roof and all at one point death row guards at Georgia State Penitentiary.
Hank (Thornton) quietly goes through the habits of his day including eating ice cream at the local diner with a plastic spoon and running the sons of his black neighbor (Mos Def) off his property with a shotgun.
The sons pay for the sins of the father never holds truer than with this family. Hank's father Buck (Peter Boyle), a retired prison guard is a deplorable, spiteful racist without a kind word to share from his oxygen tank-adorned wheelchair. This mentality has, of course, passed down to Hank but Hank's son Sonny (Heath Ledger), also a prison guard, has resisted and as a result become a subjugated shell of a man.
Events lead up to the execution of damned Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), or 'Monster's Ball' (the condemned's last night on Earth), a quiet man with a penchant for drawing and the acceptance of his evil deeds.
His only concern now is his son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun), whose mother Leticia (Halle Berry) brings Tyrell for one last visit with his father but she shows no remorse for Lawrence and makes it clear the visit is only for the son.
Borderline helpless and quietly suffering as both mother and son come to terms with the inevitable, Leticia's maternal qualities go from loving to horribly abusive as she mentally and physically abuses her overweight son, "you little piggy", who has resorted to hiding candy around the house. Not merely portraying a mother's rage, this devastating sequence goes to great length's to show the fragility of her character...and momentarily, it only gets worse.
During Lawrence's dead man walk, escorted by both Hank and Sonny, the more sensitive Sonny vomits and can't go through with it, which after the no-nonsense brutal on-screen electrocution, sends Hank into a violent, shameful rage against his son where the other guards have to separate them. This sets off a downward spiral of tragedy and despair where you can only wonder where the story can go from there.
But there is a light ray of hope when the fates of Hank and Leticia intertwine and they seem to zero in on each other out of desperation and necessity more than anything else. But how long can this unlikely relationship last? Particularly when Leticia has no idea that her new suitor escorted the father of her son to his death?
Working from a measured script by Milo Addica and Will Rokos whom oddly haven't done much since, the performers do some of their most subtle and nuanced work here. Although Berry got most of the accolades and an Oscar to show for it, deservedly to be sure, Thornton delivers the best performance with a barely perceptible but all too telling variance as his character progresses.
Sadly, two of the other great performers are no longer with us; Peter Boyle, no doubt excited to play something other than Raymond's father at that point, fills his character with a realistic ugliness but also feeble underpinnings that almost make his character sympathetic by his pitiable final scenes.
Heath Ledger adds an aimless despair to this character and is the first of his roles to show the depth he later showed in 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'The Dark Knight'.
Sean Combs and Mos Def also do great work in small roles and newcomer Calhoun who probably scores the most pity points as a kid who never had a chance. A thesping tour de force no doubt about it and one of the best pictures of 2001 (Ebert actually claimed it his best picture of '01).
The 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p is quite strong for a film with an intentionally dull palette. There's not much visually interesting about rural Georgia and the general ambiance of the film doesn't exactly scream for high-def but there's still considerable detail in the close-ups and the scope image always provides a nice depth.
Definitely the way to go if picking up the film for the first time but I'm not sure the transfer alone would justify a double-dip if you already own the previous DVD although there a few new special features that I'll detail below.
The pic gets a new DTS HD Master mix that works fine for a mostly dialogue-driven film. For Special Features, we oddly lose a commentary on the previous DVD that includes Thornton but gain one with director Mark Forster and writers Addica and Rokos. Four Deleted Scenes, a featurette and cast and crew interviews finish off the extras. I'm perplexed by the loss and gain of different commentaries but at least there's something new here for prospective buyers.
The film holds up as an emotional whirlwind with outstanding performances by almost everybody involved. And it seems only Heath Ledger went on to continue risky roles as Thornton seems content to ride on 'Bad Santa's coattails with crap comedies like 'School for Scoundrels' and 'Mr. Woodcock' and Halle Berry...well, ahem, 'Catwoman'. The high-def transfer is quite good for the material so it's an easy recommend for those picking up the film for the first time.
Monster's Ball [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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