【】
It almost sounds like a challenge: Can you make a feature length movie with only one on-screen actor, one location, and a budget of less than half a million?
Written by Lucy Campbell and shot by Matt Vesely, eerie sci-fi mystery Monolithexists within these potentially tricky parameters. Almost the entire movie takes place in a modern, isolated house in the rolling Adelaide Hills, South Australia, following a disgraced journalist (Lily Sullivan) as she yarn-balls a weird global enigma for her new podcast series. The film could easily have been a dismally failed experiment, but Monolith's logistical restrictions actually help it shine, adding a claustrophobia and sense of realism that only heightens the core mystery.
SEE ALSO:15 best sci-fi movies on Hulu that you can watch right nowWhat's Monolith about?
After being publicly accused of failing to check her sources for a major story, a discredited reporter retreats to her wealthy parents' country home outside of Adelaide to work on a new podcast: Beyond Belief, a deep dive into unexplained mysteries. With the pressure to find a story building, one suddenly lands in her inbox: a phone number and an ambiguous "the truth will out" message.
Soon the journalist is on the trail of a strange phenomenon that appears to be happening across the globe: bizarre black bricks that turn up in people's lives, usually at a time of distress, and which contain bizarre symbols inside them that aren't from any recognisable language.
The story itself is creepy enough, but when strange occurrences start happening in the protagonist's life, it becomes clear that there's more at play.
Monolith is a lesson in micro-budget film-making.
If it was easy to make a film for less than AUD$500,000 (£258,000 / USD$330,000), everyone would be doing it, wouldn't they? The thing is, Monolithmakes it lookeasy. Campbell's script utilises podcast interviews and tense phone calls to add a sense of creepy realism, while Vesely adds in slow-moving cutaways to bring the interviewees' stories to life without the need for special effects.
Partway through I did wonder if the movie couldhave been a podcast — and it probably would have worked — but then we'd lose out on the unsettling visuals, Sullivan's brilliant lead performance, and the perfect filming location (seriously, whoever found this glass-filled modern house, surrounded by misty grey vistas, deserves an award of their own). Sullivan is on screen for almost all of Monolith's 94-minute runtime, pacing anxiously between rooms like a prisoner, obsessively editing audio files and gazing out at the hilly, gum tree-lined surroundings with the increasing fear of a woman who feels observed. Sullivan plays this role perfectly, with the layers of her character peeling back as the story progresses and her own life intersects with the mystery she's exploring.
Related Stories
- 'Monolith' trailer sees disgraced journalist uncovering creepy sci-fi conspiracy
- 15 best sci-fi movies on Hulu that you can watch right now
- The best sci-fi movies on Netflix to escape reality
- 25 of the best mystery movies on Netflix for you to solve
- Netflix's '3 Body Problem' trailer teases massive sci-fi mystery from 'Game of Thrones' creators
Is Monolith's ending satisfactory?
The tricky thing about films that ask big questions is that you inevitably end up wanting a big answer. You want to know if the conspiracy is real, or if something otherworldly exists, even if that’s not the main point of the film. Monolithfalls into this category, and its ending will subsequently divide people. Without going too far into spoiler territory there's an underlying ambiguity to the movie that doesn't disappear by the end credits. But arguably the story is as much about mental illness, our pasts, and the devastating effect both these things can have on us in the present, as it is about the possibility of an extraterrestrial conspiracy. The film's ambiguous tone allows these themes to be explored simultaneously, and work in a dark harmony together.
Ultimately, Monolithis a film of unease. It builds and builds and, like the protagonist's questions about the mysterious objects and her own past, it doesn't go away.
How to watch:Monolithis in theaters from Feb 16.
TopicsReviews
相关文章
'Rocket League' Championship Series Season 2 offers $250,000 prize pool
Rocket League 。's competitive scene is just getting started. 。The 。 Rocket League 。Championship Series i2024-11-21- 哪些食物適合腦梗患者食用?腦梗患者之所以攤上腦梗,主要是因為腦血管出現堵塞,導致腦部血液養分供應障礙而引起的病變。那麽想要調理好腦梗,就需要多食用一些對疏通腦血管有幫助的食物,...腦梗死吃什麽食物好2024-11-21
- “你追了我八條街,我都給你說了,我不是你爹”這句話是什麽梗?可能是遊戲裏的內容吧,這樣的差不多內容也是有很多,一般都是在遊戲裏的,很多這樣的情況可能是遊戲裏的內容吧,這樣的差不多內容也是有很多,一般都2024-11-21
- 前言:金牛座2021年運勢金牛座2021年運勢事業運勢:2021年金牛座在事業上應該算是很努力的一年,2021年金牛座憑借自身的才華與努力,突破自我,事業財運上收獲頗豐 。金牛座今年的幸運數字是0 ,今年2024-11-21
Pole vaulter claims his penis is not to blame
Following the cringeworthy moment in which pole vaulter Hiroki Ogita's penis grazed the bar and he f2024-11-21- 連人民日報都用上yyds ,這個yyds到底是什麽意思?yyds這個詞,是一個網絡用詞,源自於電競圈。是由曾是一名職業選手現是一名主播的“山泥若”在直播期間隨口說出來的 。在一次直播的時候,他稱英雄聯盟職2024-11-21
最新评论