Monolith (2022 film)

Monolith is a 2022 Australian science-fiction thriller 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.

Cast

 * Lily Sullivan as The Interviewer
 * Erik Thomson as Dad (voice)
 * Kate Box as Laura (voice)
 * Terence Crawford as Klaus (voice)
 * Damon Herriman (voice)
 * Ling Cooper Tang as Floramae (voice)
 * Ansuya Nathan as Paula (voice)
 * Matt Crook as Scott (voice)
 * Rashidi Edward as John (voice)
 * Brigid Zengeni as Shiloh (voice)
 * Belle Kalendra-Harding

Production
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, developed their scripts; one script was then chosen for production. Monolith received an initial A$400,000 in funding from SAFC and AFF, with additional funding from Mercury CX. The film's total budget was under A$500,000.

Lucy Campbell wrote the script; it was directed by Matt Vesely (development manager at Closer Productions ) and produced by Bettina Hamilton. The cinematographer is Michael Tessari and Tania Nehme edited the film.

Principal photography took place in the Adelaide Hills from late May 2022, shot over 15 days consecutively and in the same order as the events in the film. The entire film was shot in one location, with only one on-screen actor (Lily Sullivan); various other actors are heard over the telephone, including Damon Herriman, Erik Thomson and Kate Box.

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".

Release
Monolith premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 27 October 2022.

In January 2023 it was announced that it would have its official world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival; it took place on 13 March 2023, with two further screenings at the festival.

Monolith also screened at the Gold Coast Film Festival in HOTA, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, in April 2023; and the film's Asian premiere was at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea on 1 July 2023. It was listed by Screen Hub as one of "ten must-see films" at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It premiered in the UK at FrightFest in London on 26 August 2023, and was selected to screen at many other festivals through the year, including Overlook Film Festival (New Orleans); Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival; Fantasy Filmfest (Germany); CinefestOz; Octopus Film Festival (Gdańsk, Poland); and Sitges Film Festival (Sitges, Spain).

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).

The distributor of Monolith in Australian and New Zealand cinemas is Bonsai Films; and in North America, Well Go USA Entertainment. Blue Finch handles other international sales.

Monolith had a limited release in New Zealand cinemas from 25 August 2023.

It was released in Australian cinemas from 26 October 2023, shortly after screening at SXSW Sydney, and Q&A preview screenings in South Australia. It grossed $7,168 by the end of its opening weekend in Australia.

Monolith was released on DVD and on the Australian streaming service Binge on 15 December 2023, It is also available for purchase on Amazon Prime in Australia.

It was released in cinemas in the US on 16 February 2024. A trailer has been released by distributors Well Go USA. The Blu-ray was released on 23 April 2024.

Reception
Monolith has been variously described as sci-fi thriller and horror.

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".

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, along with several other reviewers, and Vesely's direction, Lucy Campbell's script, Tessari's cinematography, and Benjamin Speed's score are all praised by several reviewers. ScreenAnarchy reviewers wrote "Monolith is an intelligent, exquisitely mounted creeping nightmare of a film". 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". 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". Variety was the only dissenting review at that point, finding that the second half let down the promise of the first.

Monolith received good reviews following its showing at FrightFest in London in August 2023.

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".

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". 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".

Screen Hub listed it as one of the 10 best horror films of 2023.

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".

The film has a rating of 86% on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 44 critics’ reviews.

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.

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. (It lost to Shayda, which was submitted for the Best International Feature category in the 2024 Academy Awards. )

At Sitges Film Festival, Monolith was nominated for the New Visions Award (Best Motion Picture). Benjamin Speed's soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Song Composed for the Screen at the 2023 Screen Music Awards.

Vesely was nominated in the "Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film" category in the ADG Awards.

Monolith was nominated in the Best Indie Film category in the 2024 AACTA Awards, along with Ivan Sen's Limbo, Rolf de Heer's The Survival of Kindness, Mark Leonard Winter's The Rooster, A Savage Christmas, and Streets of Colour.

In April 2024, Lucy Campbell was awarded the John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing in the produced category by the Australian Writers' Guild, for her screenplay.

Monolith won Best Feature film at the South Australian Screen Awards in June 2024.