What to watch: Strange, miraculous ‘Monster’ one of year’s best films

In the lead-up to awards season, smaller films often get trampled by studio releases backed by huge and well-oiled marketing blitzes.

“Monster” is one such film that should get more attention and love. We’ll tell you why, and check in on the “Chicken Hill” gang (23 years later) and spotlight a riveting new Italian mob series.

Here’s our roundup.

“Monster”: Three unique perspectives guide and dramatically shift the serpentine narrative course of Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s exquisite movie — one of 2023’s most amazing tightrope walks. It begins with a striking image of a mother and son observing from their apartment a fire that’s devouring a tall building (an image that could well serve as a mirror to the warring firestorm of emotions roiling inside each of its characters). But what seems to be emerging as a standard family drama soon pivots in Yuji Sakamoto’s award-winning script, which is assembled like a jigsaw puzzle. And Kore-eda, director of “Shoplifters” and “Broker,” interlocks the pieces into a gorgeous, touching portrait of the solace of friendship and our universal need to connect with others so we can fully embrace the person we were meant to be. The story centers on single mom Saori (Sakura Ando) — harried and mourning the loss of her husband — and her fifth-grade son Minato (Soya Kurokawa), an emotionally shut-off kid who starts to act strangely in the aftermath of a heated exchange with homeroom teacher Mr. Hori (Eita Nagayama).

Loosely structured like Akira Kurosawa’s iconic “Rashomon,” “Monster” then offers events from the eyes of socially awkward Mr. Hori, who grows more desperate and, well, awkward and believes that Minato has in fact been bullying Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), a sweet, ethereal kid who’s picked on at school and at home. A grieving principal (Yūko Tanaka) hobbled by a horrific tragedy, rounds out the foundation of emotionally scarred characters, all of whom are viewed by others in this small Japanese city as different and/or abnormal, a perception reflected in the film’s title.

But as “Monster” so gracefully and sensitively points out, there is no reason for anyone to walk this path alone when there are so many willing to walk it with you. Details: 4 stars out of 4; in theaters Dec. 15.

“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”: While it isn’t as good as its 23-year-old predecessor “Chicken Run,” a hilarious homage in part to the classic Steve McQueen actioner “The Great Escape,” this chipper and lovable Aardman stop-motion animation effort is certain to delight people of all ages. Parents be prepared, though: Your kids might never want to order chicken nuggets again, since our foul friends are trying to escape the clutches of a massive factory poultry plant and its evil nugget inventor Mrs. Tweedy (voice of Miranda Richardson) who wants to turn our heroes into deep-fried, dippable chunks of fast food. Looking to foil that plan is the Wonder Woman of the poultry set, the brainy and athletic Ginger (voice of Thandie Newton). She, her less-agile-of-mind hubby Rocky (Zachary Levi), their resourceful daughter Molly (Bella Ramsey) and her goofy chum Frizzle (Josie Sedgwick-Davies) wing it from Chicken Island, where they’ve been roosting comfortably, to the evil Compound to save the day. “Dawn of the Nugget” gets better as soon as it lands at the Compound, where the pace picks up and a barbed message about the dangers of mass production and animal cruelty is hatched. Expect questions, parents. Details: 3 stars; drops Dec. 15 on Netflix.

“The Lovers”: In this witty opposites-attract rom-com series, Belfast suicidal supermarket clerk Janet (Roisin Gallagher) and overly confident British political commentator Seamus (Johnny Flynn) get cozy even though he has a social-media savvy girlfriend (Alice Eve). A large reason this six-part series works is because the two leads work so well off each other. Gallagher is hilarious as a quick-tempered and quick-witted working-class person who is unimpressed by all the notable politicos Seamus so proudly interviews and grills. It’s their interplay and the two actors’ natural charisma that draw us in. The writing is as nimble and spirited as the leads — not a shock since the screenplay is by playwright David Ireland (“Cyprus Avenue”), who ditches the schmaltz in favor of tart, edgy interplay. He also introduces some tricky material near the final third that gives the series another dimension that reflects on the Troubles and its lasting impact. Details: 3 stars; now available on Sundance Now and AMC+.

Find of the week

“Suburraeterna”: One of the best Italian mob stories running shows no sign it’ll be swimming with the fishes anytime soon. This eight-parter set amid the turmoil of 2011 Rome finds Alberto “Spadino” Anacleti (Giacomo Ferrara) drawn reluctantly back into the bloody family business — a la Michael Corleone from “The Godfather Part III” — when his mother is killed by a rival family that wants to control the drug biz in the seashore tourist town of Ostia. Spadino — a central figure in “Suburra: Blood on Rome,” which ran for three seasons (and is available on Netflix), ditches his male partner and his job in Berlin and enters a bloody, tangled mess that involves criminals, overzealous politicians and even the Vatican. While it certainly helps to watch previous seasons, this limited-series release can stand on its own. Hopefully, Netflix won’t leave us dangling and pick it up for another season. Details: 3 stars; now on Netflix.

“Fast Charlie”: Hankering for a deep-fried Southern neo-noir that’s stripped off all its fat? Rent Phillip Noyce’s well-seasoned, blood-splattered throwback, a smooth ride that doesn’t wear out its welcome at a brisk 90 minutes. It stars Pierce Brosnan as Charlie Swift, a put-upon hitman whose latest job hits a snag and sets off a mob turf war. If quippy exchanges such as this — Q: “What do you want?” A: “You! Not breathing” — make you giggle, don’t miss Noyce’s jaunty thriller, which features the late James Caan in a small role. Based on Victor Gischler’s “Gun Monkeys” Details: 3 stars, available on several streaming platforms and rental platforms.

“The Sacrifice Game”: Co-screenwriter/director Jenn Wexler slips under the tree a perfect present for horror fans, a bloody homage to ‘70s horror and the tropes that defined it. Wexler twists those cliches – a quartet of young Satanists, an isolated creepy school for girls and not one but perhaps two final girls (Madison Baines and Georgia Acken). Wexler’s supernatural slasher is a twisted variation on Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” with two girls school students Samantha (Baines) and Clara (Acken) with no place to stay during Christmas but at a creepy girls school with their sweet teacher (Chloe Levine) and her cute boyfriend (Gus Kenworthy) — sitting ducks for that four pack of Satanists. “Sacrifice Game” doesn’t bend any genre rules per se, but when it doesn’t need to – since everything about this one works and even surprises halfway. Details: 3 stars; now available on Shudder.

Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.