Monét: Impermeable Friendships and Their Fatal Interruptions

Grief and death intermingle into a bitter mix in Kyung Sok Kim’s Monét, a 22-minute film about two best friends, one dead and the other, to her bitter regret, not. Left alone and alive with the weight of survivor’s guilt crushing her, the protagonist Sarai—played by screenwriter Tdjiri Yakini—must contend with the accusation of being responsible for the fatal car crash. What’s worse, she cannot shake off the thought herself. 

The story is narrated by the eponymous Monét (Kasey Inez), though watching it is experiencing Sarai’s memory of their friendship. Intercut with key moments from their last days together, Kim uses uninterrupted takes for the flashbacks. The camera, free but controlled, follows the girls through the start of a new romance, the end of an old one, and more. It is all rather heady, the feeling of real time, developed here as a means to show the whole, sealed world of the two girls—others may have been allowed in but it belonged to just them. As it starts to collapse, the cuts barge in. Bullies at school pounce on Sarai’s guilt. Her old alcoholism kicks back in. 

The course of the film follows her through the darkest spell of grief, the loss fresh enough that Sarai’s arm is still in the cast, and Monét might easily still be there if she were to turn. Joined at the hip fits this duo like a glove, so much so that Sarai addresses Monét’s mother (K. Butterfly Smith) as Ma. Smith’s appearance, though brief, is gut-wrenchingly effective in expressing the loss that Sarai is still a little dazed about. Monét’s characterization and Inez’s portrayal are key to invoking the duo’s history. Sarai states that they have been friends since they were eight; the strength of Monét’s mom friend/older sister energy leaves little doubt about the love that has accrued over the decade since. 

The guilt that has shadowed Sarai threatens to overwhelm her completely in the climax, prompting the use of a score that has been reserved for particularly fraught moments like this. Monét’s arc reaches its unlikely maturity in an emotional sendoff for her best friend, sister, and child all rolled into one.