“Monster” Contains a Mini-Masterwork About the Lives of Children

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One of the most graceful experiences I’ve had at the movies this year is the last part of “Monster,” the drama directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda that’s currently in theatres, but it takes a saintly patience to sit through the hour-plus of action that precedes it. “Monster” is coy and cagey, its story constructed in three parts whose narrative boundaries are sharply drawn. Each centers on a different character in the story, but this...