Monolith

After a career ending misjudgement, a Journalist uncovers a vague conspiracy theory through her podcast, as she digs deeper, she realises she's closer to the conspiracy than she first realised.

One of those films that you could easily dismiss as mehh, but if you stick with it, I think you may get something out of it. It held my attention all the way through.

Tagged as a horror, absolutely not, in no way, shape or form does this have a single scare, it's more a mystery, with sci fi undertones, you'll be kept intrigued enough, to want to hear the conclusion.

The twist at the end of the film was the highlight, and definitely the most unsettling sequence.

A very competent performance from Lily Sullivan, who carries the film pretty much single handedly.

7/10.

Monolith borrows the core idea of Tony Burgess's novel Pontypool Changes Everything - as filtered and focused through the film adaptation, Pontypool (which, I would argue is better than the novel, which is needlessly overwritten and self-consciously haphazard) -and takes it in a very different direction. To be more specific about Monolith's story beyond what you've read in Letterboxd or IMDb plot summaries would spoil things. I've read some reviews that don't seem to like the ending, but I think these viewers have missed the point of the movie. It is heavily thematic, rooted in the sins of the past, whether terrible things thought or terrible things done, and the suppression of the related guilt. In one sense, everything in Monolith is overtly symbolic in how it relates to our world outside of the movie; but, within the movie's own world, there is no symbolism and suppressed guilt is literalized, shockingly so in at least one scene, in which a quotation from The Merchant of Venice mentioned at the beginning - "The truth will out" - is physically manifested. In the movie's world each person has their own hidden language - hidden even from the individual them self, or maybe hidden by them.

Well, I am being pretty opaque to avoid spoilers. The movie makes perfect sense within the above context and turns out to be very clever. About 2/3 of the way through I thought the movie was losing itself in a subplot, but no, everything that happens is integral to the story and themes, and essential to where the story ends up. Also impressive is the sustained sense of mystery and suspense, given that there is only one setting and that only one character appears outside of some very brief video snippets, texts, emails, and phone calls. The lead actress has to carry 90% of the movie.

Monolith is an impressive movie. It isn't as opaque or inconclusive has some viewers have said. Being very easy to miss amid the thousands of direct to streaming movies that drop each year, Monolith is worth seeking out for fans of sci-fi drama / suspense. It would make a great double feature with Pontypool.

Monolith is a tricky one, an eerie one location thriller that tries a pretty ballsy bait and switch manoeuvre with its ending that I'm not altogether sure about being effective or not. A semi-famous radio journalist (Lily Sullivan) from a wealthy family sits alone in a fancy secluded manor, doing interviews over the phone for her podcast that probes into various obscure conspiracy theories. Her latest fixation is on some shred of evidence over the years that objects of alien origin have somehow made their way into human households, and she tries to track down accounts that back this up. What she really finds is some half forgotten secret closer to home that might even relate to her own past and this is where the film attempts a prompt and jarring turn right into left field that, although fascinating, grounds what could have been a spooky extraterrestrial horror experience into something very, how should I put it, socioeconomic and decidedly "of this world." It's a shame because I felt like the former option would have made for the better, stronger film. In any case it's still creepy, atmospheric, well acted and makes good use of its single location trappings.

Again, this goes to show you don't need huge budgets to create good sci-fi. Absolute props to Lily Sullivan who's crushing it carrying the whole thing as a one-woman show. Now you have to know before you go in that it is extremely slow paced sci-fi with little to no special effects, and everything hinges on the atmosphere, closer to a psychological thriller in that way. In fact I find the poster for the movie a tad misleading. While it kept me engaged for the vast majority of the time, there are some pacing problems in certain places so that was unfortunate.

But overall it's definitely something I would recommend for people who can appreciate "non-flashy sci-fi".

Can I honestly urge you to put aside an hour and a half of your life to watch this? No, I don't think so. There's nothing wrong with this film. I am old, and remember radio plays (honest, they were entertaining, and tested one's imagination) and this feels like one of those. There's nothing 'cinematic' about it. It has one idea, and does it quite well. Should you be stuck inside on a rainy day and you've done all your chores, go ahead. You won't regret it. But going for a walk, tidying your house, finishing those jobs are more important.

Well acted, well presented, nicely structured. A good ending (if you've been paying attention to the hints).