Synopsis

After discovering that a teacher is responsible for her young son’s sudden change of behavior, a mother storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on.

As the story unfolds through the eyes of the mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.



Monster is set to premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023, where it will compete for the Palme d'Or. The film will be released in Japan on 2 June 2023.

Cast: Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, Yūko Tanaka, Akihiro Tsunoda, Shidō Nakamura


The film marks the first time Kore-eda has directed a film he did not write himself since Maborosi (1995). The film was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto (no relation to Yuji Sakamoto), who died two months before its release; the film is dedicated to his memory.

Monster had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and was honored with the Queer Palm as well as the Best Screenplay award.

The film was released in Japan on 2 June 2023. It received widespread critical acclaim with special praise for its screenplay, direction, acting, editing and musical score and appeared in many lists of top ten year's best.