Monster’s Ball (2001)

Directed by Marc Forster. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Coronji Calhoun, Amber Rules. [R]

Odyssey of misery for broken people, two of which connect in unexpected ways—Thornton is a beaten-down corrections officer who can’t stand his “weak” son (Ledger) and has learned hate and racism from a lifetime with his father (Boyle, doing what he can with a despicable, one-dimensional role); Berry is a tired and frustrated waitress about to be evicted from her home, with a husband (Combs) on death row and a dangerously overweight son (Calhoun). That they come together at all is one of several contrivances that are difficult to shake, as are the cruel calculations of a plot that overdoses on depression through a series of soul-shattering events (it’s produced by Precious director Lee Daniels, after all). Overcoming these unshakable flaws in the writing and direction are the exceptional lead performances (Berry, never better, won an Oscar) and its open-ended but cautiously optimistic ending.

69/100