Directed by J.A. Bayona () and starring Liam Neeson (Schindler's List; Michael collins; Kinsey; Star Wars; Taken; Batman Begins), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens; Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey; Ghostbusters; The Cabin in the Woods), Felicity Jones (Rogue One; The Theory of Everything; Inferno; Hysteria; The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Toby Kebbell (Warcraft: The Beginning; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Wrath of the Titans; Prince of Persia) and Lewis Macdougall (Pan).
Fantasy drama; 109 mins; 12+
The film is about Conor (Lewis Macdougall) who mother (played by Felicity Jones) is suffering from a terminal illness. Conor is withdrawn and is being bullied at school; at home he makes himself breakfast when his mother is too ill to get out of bed, and he does his own washing too. He also suffers from nightmares; it is from these that he conjures up a tree monster who tells him stories in which bad people do good and vice-versa, with the crunch coming when Conor has to tell the monster a story.
His father (Toby Kebbell) lives and works in California and comes to visit, to support Conor and the boy's mother. Conor then goes to stay with his Grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) when his mother has to go into hospital for another treatment.
A dark film about preparing for the loss of a loved one, and grief, as well as how one's psychological mind can play tricks. In one of the final scenes, everthing starts to make sense at last when the pieces of the jigsaw are fitted together and the loose ends are all tied up. Conor's imagination has helped him through the pain of his mother's illness, but it does leave many scars. Only when he and his Grandmother accept how ill conor's mother realyl is, will they be able to cope.
