Originally published at: https://geektherapy.org/your-monster-finds-the-humor-in-heartbreak-rage-and-healing/
Author: Jorge Perez
Based on a true-ish story, Laura Franco (played by Melissa Barrera) is an aspiring, soft-spoken actor who was dumped by her long-time boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (played by Edmund Donovan) while she is recovering from surgery. Feeling emotionally hurt and dejected, Laura returns to home and grieves the lost of her relationship but, adding insult to injury to her situation, she finds out that her ex-boyfriend is staging a musical that she helped create. Not only is Laura a mess of emotions from dealing with a break up, having a health issues, and discovering her ex staging a musical she had a hand in, a monster (played by Tommy Dewey) emerges to lay claim to her living situation. Being forced to live with the monster, begins to find a connection with the monster, which encourages her to embrace her dreams, find confidence in herself, and fall in love with the rage within her.
Your Monster is a dark, romantic comedy that embraces the concept of how someone handles and uses their rage. It challenges the ways one person can release their rage, whether it is in a safe capacity or in a negative setting where others may feel the sting of wrath coming from that individual. This movie expertly shows the rage outburst in both positive and negative lights. One thing this movie also shows pretty well is the concept of grieving a lost relationship and the feeling of betrayal. Your Monster expertly weaves a story with all the elements of rage, grief, and betrayal and shows how Laura handles these emotions.
This movie was inspired by an event the director (Caroline Lindy) had experienced in a past relationship. She was dumped by text by her boyfriend of three years. While in pain, both physically and emotionally, Caroline began to experience a feeling that she had never felt before, fury. “I was angrier than I had ever been. How much would it cost me to hire a hitman to murder my ex? Maybe I could do it with my own hands?” stated Caroline. Of course, she did not commit murder nor hire a hitman to go after her ex-boyfriend. Instead, she channeled her rage and created Your Monster.
The characters in the movie are pretty unique. One character that fascinated me was the Monster. The Monster (played by Tommy Dewey) is not your typical monster. Yes, he does show his scary side to intimidate Laura, but he was able to show sympathy for Laura’s situation. The Monster then begins to show Laura how to channel her inner rage to build her self-confidence. Laura was another character that fascinated me because of how she handled her rage. Though not all of it was positive, it showed some growth as a person.
Overall, this movie is on a league of its own. If you want a unique story that is dark, funny, and (least to say) true-ish, I highly recommend watching this movie.