One location. One actor. One captivating mystery.
Lily Sullivan plays a journalist on the cusp of starting a new podcasting venture. She recently had something go wrong with a story and is staying at her parents' house in the middle of nowhere to get away from her critics.
Her parents are away, leaving her all alone with nothing but her podcasting equipment and a desire for a new story.
After an anonymous tip arrives in her inbox she begins pulling at a thread, devoting her new podcast to numerous reports of mysterious black bricks appearing in people's lives, seemingly otherworldly in origin.
What plays out is a series of phone calls and podcast recording sessions as the journalist (whose name is never revealed in the film) gets first hand accounts of bricks and the strange goings on that followed them.
That's it.
Lily Sullivan is the only actor who appears on screen. Half a dozen or so others have their voices heard through phone calls, occasionally we'll see a picture of someone else, but it's really resting on her shoulders.
Sullivan starred in Evil Dead Rise earlier this year and proved that she's absolutely more than capable of carrying a film. There's very little else for the film to rely on to keep you captivated so it's a relief to be able to tell you that she's one of the best young talents working at the moment.
Monolith is the directorial debut of Matt Vesely. There's a confidence to his direction, when the location and resources are so limited for a film it's easy to jazz it up with super flashy editing and sound effects, like in a similar one actor/one location movie, Buried from 2010 (although I do love Buried).
Instead Vesely opts to let the beautiful cinematography and performance of his sole actress do the talking. Shots hold for minutes at a time in some instances and due to these elements I hardly noticed the time pass by.
Your enjoyment of Monolith is going to depend entirely on how willing you are to buy into the film's central mystery. You'll know very quickly if the film is for you. Heck, even knowing that the film is so limited in scope will likely turn you on or off to it. Personally, I have a soft spot for ambitious, limited filmmaking like this and Monolith more than delivered on it's premise.
The film is currently showing in very limited screenings across Aotearoa.
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