Monolith is a 2022 Australian science-fictionthriller film directed by Matt Vesely from a script written by Lucy Campbell, and produced by Bettina Hamilton. Described as high-concept science fiction, it stars Lily Sullivan, the only on-screen actor in the film, as a journalist uncovering a mystery.
The film premiered in Australia on 27 October 2022 at the Adelaide Film Festival, and internationally at SXSW in March 2023.
Plot
The central character (known only as The Interviewer) is a disgraced journalist who, depressed and alone in her parents' large home while they are away, starts podcasting about unsolved mysteries in the hopes of reviving her career. She invites listeners to phone in with their stories. A story begins to build around a strange black brick, first reported by a maid named Floramae, and followed by many others who report the mysterious appearance of a similar object in their lives.
The story is simple, but anxiety and tension is built further with the introduction of a German art collector, Klaus, who has a collection of the bricks, and has had them scanned and analysed.
The Interviewer's mental health declines as the story proceeds, and after she comes to the startling realisation that she herself is involved in the backstory of one of the bricks, the final scenes leave their interpretation open to the audience.
Monolith was the first feature film produced as part of a joint initiative called "Film Lab: New Voices", by South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) and the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF). A development lab ran for 11 months, in which three projects, chosen from an initial 63 entries proposed by 49 teams,[1] developed their scripts; one script was then chosen for production.[2]Monolith received an initial A$400,000 in funding from SAFC and AFF,[3] with additional funding from Mercury CX. The film's total budget was under A$500,000.[4]
Lucy Campbell wrote the script; it was directed by Matt Vesely (development manager at Closer Productions[5]) and produced by Bettina Hamilton.[3][6] The cinematographer is Michael Tessari and Tania Nehme edited the film.[5]
On-screen actor Lily Sullivan said in a 2023 interview that her role was the "challenge of a lifetime". She called it "terrifying", and said, "I ended up approaching it like theatre, almost... I've never been more aware of my voice".[7]
Release
Monolith premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival[9] on 27 October 2022.[5]
In January 2023 it was announced that it would have its official world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival;[10][11][12][13] it took place on 13 March 2023, with two further screenings at the festival.[14]
The film secured international sales teams, XYZ Films for North America and Blue Finch Films in the UK. Todd Brown, head of international acquisitions at XYZ, said of director Matt Veseley, "We haven't been more excited about a filmmaker since we first came across Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson with their debut feature Resolution" (released 2013).[10]
The distributor of Monolith in Australian and New Zealand cinemas is Bonsai Films;[4] and in North America, Well Go USA Entertainment. Blue Finch handles other international sales.[20][21]
Monolith had a limited release in New Zealand cinemas from 25 August 2023.[22][23]
It was released in Australian cinemas from 26 October 2023, shortly after screening at SXSW Sydney,[24] and Q&A preview screenings in South Australia.[19][25] It grossed $7,168 by the end of its opening weekend in Australia.[26]
It was released in cinemas in the US on 16 February 2024.[30] A trailer has been released by distributors Well Go USA.[31][32][33] The Blu-ray was released on 23 April 2024.[34]
Reception
Monolith has been variously described as sci-fi thriller and horror.[29][35][36][37]
After its screening at the Adelaide Film Festival, Rachael Mead of InDaily wrote: "Sullivan is superb as the ethically dubious journalist", and "Beneath the thrilling claustrophobia lies a cunning puncturing of privilege and a clear-eyed critique of the way we construct, manipulate and ultimately consume 'truth' in a globalised world".[38]
Reviews after the SXSW screenings were nearly all positive. Luke Gorham (In Review Online) draws parallels with the plot of Kiarostami's Shirin, only in reverse. He praises Sullivan's performance,[39] along with several other reviewers,[40][41][42] and Vesely's direction, Lucy Campbell's script, Tessari's cinematography, and Benjamin Speed's score are all praised by several reviewers.[37]ScreenAnarchy reviewers wrote "Monolith is an intelligent, exquisitely mounted creeping nightmare of a film".[43][33] Anton Bitel compares Monolith with David Lynch's Lost Highway and Michael Haneke's Hidden, in that it too "is ultimately a tale of troubled conscience and conflicted self, where everything ultimately comes from within".[44] Jennie Kermode of Eye for Film writes in her four-star review: "Monolith is a great example of how small things can be used to tell a big story".[45]Variety was the only dissenting review at that point, finding that the second half let down the promise of the first.[46]
Monolith received good reviews following its showing at FrightFest in London in August 2023.[18][35][47]
David Stratton, writing in The Australian, called the film a "strangely gripping supernatural thriller, one that keeps the audience guessing and withholds a few of its secrets..." and went on to write "the film may baffle some viewers and enthral others, but on its own chosen level it works most satisfactorily and it's another example of an offbeat and impressive Australian film backed by the Adelaide International Film Festival".[48]
On the eve of its US cinema release, New York Times reviewer Calum Marsh wrote, "The film is most effective when at its most granular, as Sullivan’s character carefully splices snippets of audio recordings and pores over research materials, scenes strongly reminiscent of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up and Brian De Palma's Blow Out".[49] After its release, Guardian reviewer Phil Hoad gave the film four out of five, mentioning its references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Denis Villeneuve's 2016 sci-fi drama Arrival and calling it an "impressive debut".[50] Australian critic Andrew F Peirce praised the film and Sullivan's performance, and wrote "It's clear that Matt Vesely and Lucy Campbell are eager champions of genre-filmmaking in Australia, with a confident debut feature that utilises limited resources to create a story that's expansive and genuinely otherworldly".[51]
Screen Hub listed it as one of the 10 best horror films of 2023.[29]
An analytical article by an academic on The Conversation website looks at the film's commentary on narrowcasting: "Monolith is one of the first Australian films to critically navigate the ramifications of narrowcasting technology". The writer considers that "the strange solitude of interpersonal communication in the global information economy underpins the whole thing", and describes it as "a decidedly low-key film, but this should not be mistaken for dull. It is an arresting chiller, extremely tightly performed and made".[52]
The film has a rating of 86% on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 44 critics’ reviews. The site consensus reads "Carried by Lily Sullivan's outstanding lead performance and enriched by an expertly administered sense of creeping claustrophobia, Monolith is an eerie thriller that burns slow and lingers".[53]
Awards and nominations
Monolith was nominated as one of eight (out of 72) in Total Film's FrightFest Awards for Best Film, and Sullivan won Best Actress.[54][36]
It was selected as one of four nominees for the CinefestOZ Film Prize, the richest film prize in the country and worth A$100,000, in September 2023.[55][56] (It lost to Shayda, which was submitted for the Best International Feature category in the 2024 Academy Awards.[57])
The Adelaide Film Festival is a film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October. Subject to funding, the festival has staged full or briefer events in alternating years; some form of event has taken place every year since 2015. From 2022 it takes place annually. It has a strong focus on local South Australian and Australian produced content, with the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF) established to fund investment in Australian films.
A monolith is a monument or natural feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock.
South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed by the South Australian Film Corporation for the use of the South Australian film industry.
Ling Cooper Tang, formerly credited as Ling-Hsueh Tang, is a Chinese Australian actress. She became known for her role as Dr. Kylie Preece in the hospital drama TV series All Saints (1999-2002), and has starred in many TV series since, including the 2024 British adventure series Nautilus, as well as several films.
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Lily Sullivan is an Australian actress. She played Coral in the 2012 film Mental, and Miranda in the 2018 television series Picnic at Hanging Rock. She plays leading roles in two 2023 feature films, Australian sci-fi thriller Monolith, and American horror film Evil Dead Rise.
Tania Nehme is an Australian film editor. She has edited a number of films directed by Rolf de Heer and won and been nominated for many awards for her editing work.
Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor, known for performances in film, television and on stage.
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Well Go USA Entertainment is an American independent and international film distributor. It distributes films in a variety of genres, including action films, American indie films, and martial arts films, on all types of platforms, including in movie theaters, on DVDs and Blu-rays, and via video on demand (VOD). It is a major distributor of Asian action films in the United States.
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Matthew Vesely is an Australian filmmaker, best known for his 2022 feature film Monolith. His other work includes the web series Wastelander Panda (2013) and the short films My Best Friend Is Stuck on the Ceiling (2015) and System Error (2020). He works as development manager at Closer Productions.
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