A Monster Calls ... A boy and his loss [trailer]

I’m about 25% of the way through The Goldfinch and crazy about its main character, the 13 year old Theo. The deeply moving opening just slayed me. There are a number of 13 year olds in the book2movie world just now, especially 13 year old boys losing their mothers, vis a vis the adaptation of A Monster Calls. The film made its debut at TIFF earlier this month and is set to screen at the London Film Fest in early October before its’ main theatrical run at the start of the new year. 

The monster is voiced by Liam Neeson

The 13-year old Conor is played by Lewis MacDougall, fairly 
new to the biz, but his cancer-beset Mum is played by Felicity Jones with Sigourney Weaver as his Grandma. Like Theo, Conor has a rich relationship with his mother, and like Theo, has to come to terms with his grief.

If this is all new to you, here’s the lowdown on the book from Barnes and Noble. Siohban Dowd, human rights campaigner and ya author, had the idea for the book but herself died from cancer before she could write it. Patrick Ness not only wrote the book but also the screenplay. Meant as children’s book, this middle grade reader deals with some important, very grownup issues, so much so that some reviews indicate it may be too emotionally harrowing for your own young teen.

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Take a look at the trailer.

Thoughts?