So the piece below I originally posted elsewhere. It is eight months old and I wrote it while writing the Monsta X Potpourri. Remember that one? But as I approached my first themed “home screening” (ok this sounds fancier than what it is, which is me wanting some order in the things I watched and read, and especially want to build connections) I thought this made a good prologue to what kind of expectations I have in a music documentary. I did some light line editing, but nothing else. Here we go.
The whole movie is on Youtube btw lol
I saw Monsta X: The Dreaming. I like Monsta X. I like their music. Shownu is hot and Minhyuk is handsome and Hyungwon is a major cutie. I did not like this film. In fact i had a horrific time.
Nothing that this film does would convince anyone that Monsta X is a group worth checking out, not only through the music but also in terms of their adaptability to the changing times. (I'd know, because i write about them - and i spend a lot of time in this fandom/genre.) A movie made during the pandemic and without Shownu, fundamentally unsure if it wants to be Monsta X's letter to fans, an online concert, or a portrait of artists that endured hardships from before predebut, it falls flat in every aspect.
First, the letter to fans - I'll concede this was the best part. Idols aren't known to be very verbose people, but at least attempts were made, (even if i.m sounds like he will fall asleep on his own words), and members look visibly choked up at the idea of the pandemic. Monsta X is lucky that they have (at least) two talkative members: Minhyuk and Jooheon, and their parts were very interesting. Jooheon throws a bone here by alluding to Follow era (when Wonho left). Minhyuk makes a mention as to how fans are like a mother figure - they "feed him, dress him, love him, take care of him". which i thought was revelatory on how the parasociality bit between idol and fan goes both ways, a topic that i find needs a larger conversation. But obviously we are not going here. Instead, Monsta X are told to talk to the cam as if it's their fans (K-pop idol directive 101) about how the pandemic is so awful and we will meet again and whatever. Something I'd be passionate about if they were my favorite K-Pop artists, but they're my lab experiment, so it wasn't.
The online concert had songs of The Dreaming album, which is an album i do not care for. (Unlike ALL ABOUT LUV, there's only two highlights here.) The stages looked like Mnet's Road To Kingdom stages, which, whatever, but i did not get a concert production feel of it. (For me, a concert production that simply ended up online was The Boyz's Film Festival, a fancon; and for a concert production that made full use of the fact it was online, you can check out Sunmi's Good Girl Gone Mad concert1!) “Secrets” and “Whispers in the dark” didn't even get a choreo. Also, they were made by shownu, who isn't here. What do you want me to say to that? Monsta X are good performers, but the songs don't highlight that; which makes sense, because an album like The Dreaming makes performing inherently difficult. It's for easy listening and it's good synthpop music at points, but has no intensity to it, the main thing Monsta X is known for. But Hyungwon insists that through ALL ABOUT LUV, "they promote what they're known for", so maybe I'm just wrong here.
The portrait... that's where I'm befuddled for who the movie's for. Like, I imagine Monbebes — Monsta X fans — knew that Kihyun isn't up there in dancing, or that Shownu's got an intimidating vibe to him, no? Like... why tell us that? Why give us soundbites on us fans? Nothing of value was said! Which is what I could say of the film too: nothing of value was said! Eshy Gazit's2 bit felt like advertisement of the worst kind. Can't you guys please tell stories. where are the storytellers of this production? When Kihyun goes, "we had to climb up, stair by stair," where is that? i don't necessarily think everything has to be dramatized to hell and back (not like Monsta X would be new to this, considering they debuted with a reality show LOL), but there was no narrative arc to this either, which is probably why I just felt so bored of the film. No new information, no interest in exploring slightly darker, more hurtful places - but lots of allusions to it. If we all wanted to be happy all the time, you can shoot a different film. Not this one, though.
Which leads me to the other thing - all the behind the scenes bits were so stilted. Jooheon pulling a prank on Minhyuk, stilted. Jooheon pulling a prank in the record booth, stilted. Them fooling around in the practice room, complete with the choreographers saying they're always like this - you guessed it, extremely stilted. It's like everyone knows there's a camera, so we can't really act like ourselves. A crazy thought considering for idols, the camera must feel like nothing at some point, no? There's certainly bits of free content on youtube online (NCT 127's recording behinds, The Boyz's Road To Kingdom behinds) where they might not get too deeply into it, but you can tell there was real effort in it. With Monsta X, I felt like they just did that on the camera just to have it on camera, all the preparation already done. The fact not a single Monsta X member has a sister (Minhyuk goes, "our fans already know this" - I ask again who this is for. Someone like me? hopefully not) is harrowing. Wow... life has something different in store for everyone, huh...
Had a laugh at Eshy Gazit, their american manager, saying they'll tour again next year. In the middle of the film btw. RIght. WHO IS THIS MOVIE FOR!!!!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU LAUNDERING THE MONEY TO STARSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely did not like it. I will touch on it as little as possible in my mx potpourri
Unfortunately as of the time of this writing I can no longer find it on Youtube.
Their American manager