MONICA - Mark Reviews Movies

Monica, IFC Films

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | May 11, 2023

Watching Monica is to witness a movie evading what it's actually about. Whether that's out of sensitivity or hesitation is irrelevant. As drama and as a study of fractured relationships mending, the movie is ultimately hollow, because it doesn't want to say too much aloud.

This might be some part of the worldview of screenwriters Andrea Pallaoro, who also directed, and Orlando Tirado. After all, this is a story in which the bonds of a family are shattered because of what has been said and done in the past. A character refers to those words and actions once, as well as how much harm they did as a result. If saying the wrong thing can do so much damage to an individual and a family, maybe the only form of healing exists in the quiet of keeping one's mouth shut.

Such a viewpoint might be a stretch here, but those are among the sort of thoughts that come with Pallaoro's intentionally quiet, reserved movie, which has its characters say very little, even as the filmmaker expects us to see so much about them, their past troubles, and their present situation within the silence. At times, the approach works, mainly because the actors are up to the task of filling in the multiple blanks with which the screenplay presents them. There's simply too much left hidden and unspoken, though, for the movie to have much impact, except to suspect that the whole process is a bit disingenuous or outright dishonest in the way it's presented.

The story follows Monica (Trace Lysette), a woman who lives on her own, works as a masseuse, and was recently dumped by a boyfriend who says he just needs some space at the moment. That's the extent of the characterization we receive about Monica, because to reveal any more too soon would answer the significant dramatic question of the story.

Monica receives a call, and in what's to become the typical fashion of this screenplay, the content and context of the call is left a mystery for a long as possible. Something bad has happened to someone Monica knows. There's nothing she believes she can do, especially since she's still trying to reconcile with the unseen and unheard boyfriend. When that hits an apparent dead end, though, Monica returns the call and announces that she's on her way to visit the person in need.

Obviously, this review needs to explain certain elements of this story if it's to make any kind of sense. The cross-country trip (in a car that's set up early to break down at an inconvenient time) is for Monica to visit her mother Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson), who is ill and is having increasing challenges with cognitive function. The phone call came from Monica's sister-in-law Laura (Emily Browning), and it must be made clear that Pallaoro and Tirado make all of the background and these relationships intentionally obscure as they're introduced. The feeling is that of watching a puzzle being assembled for us by way of dialogue that's either vague or intentionally misleading.

It's like a game, too, and that's why the movie starts to come across as dishonest, as well. Eugenia doesn't recognize Monica, and that's a question that needs some answering. Is it because of the condition of her memory, as the script prompts us to suspect just before the reunion, or is it on account of something else? What we know is that Monica has been estranged from her family since she was younger, so it's entirely possible that neither Eugenia nor Monica's brother Paul (Joshua Close) would recognize her after such a long time. That's what seems to be the case, until the movie discloses that it has been providing us with subtle clues about what happened, who Monica is, and what this story has been about the entire time.

The problem, of course, is that, if a story isn't about the thing it's about, it's not actually about that thing, right? It feels strange to have to dance around a certain essential truth of what's happening here, simply because the filmmakers want it to be a revelation for the audience at a specific point in this narrative. Once it's more or less disclosed, the story and characters here do open up in ways that help us to understand the conflicts of the past, as well as to appreciate the tiny acts of tender compassion that replace those not-forgotten words and actions from years ago. The stillness of the regret-filled air of the movie is commendable, in part because Pallaoro gives us so little else but mostly because Lysette and Clarkson communicate so much in small gesture and smaller looks.

There's probably an argument to be made that, in not making a big deal about who Monica is, Pallaoro and Tirado have avoided the potential of turning the character into a topic instead of a person. Another—and likely more convincing—argument is that, in delaying and obfuscating that revelation, Monica presents the protagonist as an unnecessary mystery that only highlights the fact that others and the movie itself perceive her as "different."

Back to Home

Buy Related Products