Monument

I can't believe anyone would be impressed, or entertained, much less thrilled by this depressing mess of a project. I can't even call it a film, because it has the feel of a student project, executed by the most mediocre of students. Which is precisely what this turns out to be! It's like watching an emaciated person flexing in the mirror. A person so mentally diminished by hunger, they've been convinced they are truly magnificent physical specimens. Now I know that actors are cringe people, as a general rule, but these folks are delusional. Trying to be edgy is never successful- it's either edgy, or it's not. It's a loosely jointed, plotless mess, which a group of theater geeks have lent themselves to desperately, in an attempt to "make it". I think a one star is as rare as a ten star- basically impossible (almost impressively) to attain. Yet I wavered over that nadir for longer than a moment. A nice butt shot rescued this film from the abyss- the veritable star of this show. By far the closest thing to talent any aspect of this farce was able to exhibit. Mired in the miserably depressing shadow of a world war, and subsequent Cold War, even these echoes are hollow, and meaningless. It fails to shock, amuse, or thrill, in any capacity. I hope the participants grow up enough to abhor its existence, and perhaps it will inspire them to be better. To make better career choices. To never sell yourself out completely to a terrible script- if they even had one. It is like a poorly edited batch of acting exercises was bundled into a movie length waste of life, punctuated by one of the most clichéd reveals since silent film was en vogue. Thank goodness for that really nice, prolonged derrière shot, which was the one redeeming part of this stinker. No puns intended. I guess the horror was the prospect of getting a real job- which is what this bus full of hospitality trainees are engaged in? Having a boss who is contemptible, but overall uncaring? Certainly, this is frightening to actors, who always bring up any real jobs they did prior to acting, with wry melancholy, and their most believable thousand yard stare, as though being a waiter, or working construction was the worst thing a human being could be forced to endure. Worse than prison. Worse than stage 4 cancer. Worse than a long road trip with your mother-in-law. Unless you enjoy non sequitur, after non sequitur, after non sequitur, ad infinitum. Not worth any butt shot, however impressive. Don't waste your precious time on this pretentious mess.

With no real point to anything prior, everything that happens is totally inconsequential the entire film other than for the sake of a character delivering a line so the movie has some form of dialogue, or trying to film a semi artsy shot with OOOH shadows, ohhhh decrepit concrete halls and rooms, ooohh metal. Films similar have been done a hundreds of times but done better with more artistic vision, more interesting characters, more symbolism, more twists and turns. No plot whatsoever, no good character development. No likeable characters. Watch people do chores for the duration of the movie in a hotel having little boring conversations periodically while knowing "this is symbolic or something right?" with no discernable payoff or meaning. My absolute least favorite type of film, some sort of abstract allegory or metaphor piece, that doesn't even make sense, like watching a toddler trying to fit the square peg in the round hole. I don't even think it was that deep though I simply think they wanted to just do a visual style/aesthetic and fill everything else in along the way. An extremely frustrating film, but not even in a "hurts so good" type of way, there are better movies for that feeling as well.

There is no ovearching plot (the clichest of clichey excuse for an ending doesn't count). There is no consistent genre (we have a little eroticism, a little body horror, some psychological drama, some standup, and some abstract artistic cinema). The graduates of a film academy are testing their skills. But can this loose set of theatrical etudes be called a movie?

This feature length acting school project is experimental, improvisational, and expressionistic, and if you are upset by the vagueness of the plot, i think you're just watching the wrong type of movie. If you're willing to go on a creepily ambiguous journey you might find this, as I did, surprisingly affecting. I think even the "boring" aspects were used to explore routine as a means of repression, for instance, in a movie which forces both characters and audience to question its reality. Formal strangeness, arthouse uncanniness; I would say it's a weird, cool movie by some ambitious youngsters and as such it ain't half bad.

This is a definite skip unless you really are trying to waste about 2 hrs of your life. The reviews before pretty much sum it up, yes a movie was made and congrats to all involved. The movie is competent enough but there's nothing here that your mind isn't really protecting onto itself like a blank canvass. The opening is intriguing enough but you'll want to make friends with the fast forward button. Kudos for learning film technique etc but don't feel the need to consume an art students graduation protection and don't feel bad for it, is what it is. Anyways there's nothing that hasn't been said.