Laura’s heart is torn. Cancer treatment hasn’t ended her blissful relationship with Jacob. Jacob was her partner for many years, but he couldn’t nurse her and abandoned her, pulling all her belongings to his mom’s place, even telling her not to come for an audition for the show she helped create. At their most intense, spilling all grace and love…Kissing.
There is a dark, insistent Monster in drawers, under beds, in every corner of the room, seeking to possess every piece of her reality. It is why it grows frustrated whenever she is around or tries to integrate into that dull life. Both try to prevent and threaten the evolution of that sick room. One goes behind the camera and starts shooting to put things in order completely.
Rather than an enchanted French castle and landscape like in the classic story, “Your Monster” takes place in the intimidating world of musical theater. Laura, a once heartbroken singer, now travels around looking for love and finding it difficult to forgive. Even the monster that the film is named after does not have the same journey as the Beast from his fairy tale the audience finds him much too whiny and aggressive and without any sense of romance. When Laura first moves in, Monster makes her life hell, hisses at her, and utilizes occupational control tactics against her which make it less of a partnership and more of a war zone. It is easy to understand how the theaters have always struggled to recreate the same chemistry of the original.
Interestingly enough, also the subject matter that Laura fights cancer while being in a relationship relates back to this year’s effort, “Lisa Frankenstein,” which fashionably called itself, “A coming of RAGE love story.” The sentiment is shared in “Your Monster” as well; the emotions Laura has bottled in for such a long time make her snap eventually, but Laura is slow to turn towards anger.
From now on, there will be no tears and Laura will not be abused anymore, as evidence, she walks in on Jacob with his new girlfriend Jackie (Meghann Fahy). But in ‘Lisa Frankenstein,” as well as in the latest film, good girls can evolve and grow in somehow fundamentally different ways, incorporating their biliousness and feminine wrath supported by an able boyfriend, who is of course not a boyfriend.” I just wish some of the later sequences from “Your Monster” could have been more playful with that idea.
For sure the songs in Your Monster don’t have that kind of show stopping moments which would allow Barrera to showcase her range, hence it is appreciated to see her back doing a number of “In the Heights” after such a long time. But in real life, even at home, with Dewey’s Monster, Barrera’s character is excessively theatrical, filled with loud hysterical screams, before almost obscene sobbing. Yes, it can be seen in the story as well. It seems a bit subdued when finally, Laura gives in to her rage as she watches Monster do the dirty work. It even borders on disturbing the aggression she seems to give off when seeking vengeance on an ex who desires most of us to only dare to daydream.
She isn’t exactly out for blood as she is on a quest to be in his good books but then realizes that it just may not be worth the effort.
Your Monster is a rather odd creature in that it is comprised of elements which should make it appealing to a mass audience, yet at times those very aspects were the ones that made me wait for the credits. Its imbalanced, clumsy breaking up and rotten exes style might satisfy certain vendetta itch but our protagonist doesn’t believe so. While the general idea seems innovative, how it was carried out is way too conventional. Once Laura steps on that road, it is clear to us that Jacob is going to be the bad domineering partner who will simply toss her away to pursue a new trophy and for that he needs to pay, well maybe thanks to an overzealous hairy lover. Every so often, Your Monster displays hints of action. Unfortunately, these are insufficient to sustain it throughout the course of the film.
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