The film reveals little of Doctora’s background — or how she came to be kidnapped — and the actress uses that mystery to map out a character who seems helpless but ends up surprising us. 2019. By using this site you are agreeing to our privacy and cookie policy. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Landes seeks a child’s-eye perspective on these events, filtering The Organisation’s experiences through hormones and adolescent insecurity. But by the next morning, reality sets in: The cow’s dead, and soon after, one of the young fighters joins it. Their burgeoning sexuality is played out with no preference for gender (one in the group, Rambo’s Sofia Buenaventura, could even be described as gender-nonconforming) as they request to “partner” up with whomever they choose. It doesn’t take long for Landes to craft a haunting setting, as the Monos roam the countryside while keeping their terrified hostage at bay, seemingly unbothered by their lack of motives. Left to their own devices, the two most crucial responsibilities they are given are to care for a cow named Shakira and oversee a kidnapped American engineer, only referred to as Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic2019-01-27T06:00:00+00:00, A group of child soldiers hold an American hostage on a remote mountaintop, Dir: Alejandro Landes. Going by nicknames such as Rambo, Smurf, Bigfoot, Wolf, and Boom-Boom, Landes is less interested in fleshing out these characters as much as he is in exploring the unforgiving and elemental world they inhabit. Monos screens at Sundance and then Berlin, its theatrical prospects boosted by the presence of Julianne Nicholson and Moisés Arias among the cast. Landes’ choice of an attractive, white American star to portray Doctora feels intriguingly calculated, playing into xenophobic stereotypes that might cast The Organisation as “evil terrorists” and Nicholson’s character as the meek innocent. 43. US sales: UTA Independent Film Group, [email protected], International sales: Le Pacte, [email protected], Producers: Alejandro Landes & Fernando Epstein, Santiago Zapata, Cristina Landes, Screenplay: Alejandro Landes & Alexis Dos Santos, story by Alejandro Landes, Editing: Yorgos Mavropsaridis, Ted Guard, Santiago Otheguy, Main cast: Julianne Nicholson, Moisés Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Julián Giraldo, Karen Quintero.
Cinematographer Jasper Wolf’s evocative imagery suggests it might be both. . January 27, 2019 1:15 pm. Belonging to a rebel group called “the Organization,” a ragtag band of child soldiers, brandishing guns and war names like Rambo, Wolf, Lady, and Bigfoot, occupies a derelict ruin atop a remote mountain where they train themselves, watch over a “conscripted” milk cow, and hold hostage a kidnapped American engineer, Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). The movie begins with one of the strangest training montages caught on film, as the titular group of teen rebels engage in tense fitness exercises at the behest of a petite overlord. 2020 film festivals and markets: latest dates, postponements and cancellations, Cinema reopening dates around the world: latest updates, Coronavirus film and TV latest: follow Screen’s coverage, Screen unveils the 2020 Stars of Tomorrow, Dea Kulumbegashvili’s ‘Beginning’ wins Golden Shell for best film at San Sebastian 2020, International film festival directors offer their verdict on Venice, ‘Tenet’ tops UK-Ireland box office for sixth week as top five takings increase 12%, China box office: ‘My People, My Homeland’ tops National Day weekend, ‘Eternal Beauty’, ‘Enfant Terrible’, ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’ opening in key European territories this week, Bafta confirms 2021 film awards eligibility rules, key dates; introduces fees, Roman Polanski responds to César Academy row, Stars of Tomorrow One-to-One: Maxine Peake & Paul Mescal, Word of Mouth - Destiny Ekaragha: ”I usually go to YouTube for film reviews”, ‘This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection’ wins top prize at Athens Film Festival, Rome Film Fest unveils 2020 line-up; lifetime award for Steve McQueen, Sony moves up Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa action thriller ‘Monster Hunter’ to December, Copyright © 2019 Media Business Insight Limited, Stars of Tomorrow and exclusive supplements. SHARES. For their birthday, they beat each other senseless as a celebration and fire their automatic rifles as if it’s the only way they can feel anything. composer Mica Levi, the discordant music is laced with choral tones and used economically to great effect. While the Monos are forced to move as unseen troops close in, they’re never too far from another setup; ultimately, the only factor guaranteed to disrupt their antics comes from their own dysfunction. In the midst of it all, Nicholson — identified for the bulk of the story only as “Doctora” — intermittently tolerates her captors and concocts a series of desperate plans to escape. With information patiently, sparingly doled out–even up until the final moments–we learn this tight-knit clan is, in fact, a rebel group in the mountains of Latin America, sporadically visited by a commander but mostly given orders through a radio. “Monos” falls short of giving these rambunctious protagonists much in the way of individual identities, but that syncs with the idea that they’ve given themselves over to a dubious cause. Going by nicknames such as Rambo, Smurf, Bigfoot, Wolf, and Boom-Boom, Landes is less interested in fleshing out these characters as much as he is in exploring the unforgiving and elemental world they inhabit. For some, it’s a dream, for others a nightmare, but from “Lord of the Flies” to “Survivor,” people never get tired of wondering what life would be as free of the constraints of civilization. ). The viscerality will surely leave one shaken, though they may question if the unceasing sadistic acts on display are worth the experience. As we’re wrung through this grueling journey, there a number of impressive visual touches from Landes. The movie oscillates from disturbing closeups of mud-caked faces to sprawling shots of jungle greenery that stretches on for an eternity. As an intense sociopolitical lesson, Monos certainly sheds vivid light on the costs of war in present-day Colombia, particularly when it comes to taking advantage of minds not yet fully formed.
Circling a vast green cliff surrounded by cloudy streams, the group receives its commands in shouted declarations of the expectations thrust on them by an enigmatic entity called “The Organization.” Nothing about the misadventures that follow clarify the origins or intent of The Organization, but they’re irrelevant to its young members, who mainly seem to embrace their environment as an excuse to party.
Landes’ technical execution is impeccably calculated to the nth degree, yet there’s a certain emotion that is stifled by his approach. As an intense sociopolitical lesson. Sundance Review: Monos Skip to entry content. With clear references to Lord Of The Flies, this meditative thriller from director Alejandro Landes (Porfirio) pushes into familiar terrain but seeks its own path, shifting our sympathies and broadening its perspective so that we see many of these characters as both victims and villains. There’s a preternatural feel to the opening sequences of Monos, the brutal, unflinching third film from Colombian-Ecuadorian filmmaker Alejandro Landes (Cocalero, Porfirio).
This site uses cookies. In the shadows and the fog, in the political unrest actualized in the cacophonous echoing of spattering gun fire, are eight child soldiers.
At night, they run amok by the fire and strap glow sticks to their cow, cackling and hollering with primal conviction. Facebook Twitter. Left to their own devices, the two most crucial responsibilities they are given are to care for a cow named Shakira and oversee a kidnapped American engineer, only referred to as Doctora (Julianne Nicholson).
A battle for survival takes many forms in Monos, a tense tale of child soldiers, their hostage and the dangerous forces that imperil them both.
Festival to go ahead as a physical event with guests including Thomas Vinterberg and Francois Ozon. These teenage fighters may have been stripped of any semblance of humanity, but when each scene brings some sort of severe horror there’s an unfortunate repetition to the narrative. Landes, who wrote the script with Argentinean filmmaker Alexis Dos Santos, builds a grimy world dominated by the fantasy that its dangerous young inhabitants have everything under control. While one immediately thinks of a Wes Anderson-esque set-up, it turns grim as an entire life becomes reduced to a few items, being snapped up one-by-one by those who live on to fight a fight in which they are losing their mental and physical stamina.
For their birthday, they beat each other senseless as a celebration and fire their automatic rifles as if it’s the only way they can feel anything. This Article is related to: Film and tagged Monos, Reviews, Sundance. As the perspective shifts, e. ven the emotional and physical pain felt by Nicholson’s character isn’t fully explored and the only thing left to feel is a bludgeoning of our senses. This an environment dictated only by their mission–the ideology of which is never disclosed–and the harsh conditions that surround them. This is a gripping, sometimes hypnotising film in which notions of good and evil are less clear-cut than the urgent desire to stay alive. ‘Monos’ Review: Thrilling Saga Is ‘Lord of the Flies’ With Guerrilla Warfare — Sundance Landes’ fast-paced survivalist saga distills guerrilla warfare into sheer anarchy. Set atop an unspecified mountain range, Monos introduces us to “The Organisation”, a group of teenage boys and girls who sport machine guns and hold Doctora (Nicholson) hostage; they have been instructed to keep alive. is the failure of an organization when control is given to an unqualified leader who inflicts barbaric dominance on their followers. MONOS, Alejandro Landes' third feature, is a survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. 'Red, White and Blue' Review: John Boyega Gives Career-Best Performance as Activist Policeman, 'David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet' Review: The Legend Gets Personal with a Plea for the Future, The 20 Highest Grossing Indies of 2020 (A Running List), Emmy Predictions 2020: Best Variety Sketch Series. Intentionally suffocating in its aesthetic, cinematographer Jasper Wolf’s camera moves with a fierceness as the characters’ unpredictable movements dictate what our eyes follow–sometimes we are literally focused on the eyes of our leads as the fourth wall breaks, including a final moment that feels like a cheap call-to-action for the viewer. Colombia/Argentina/Netherlands/Germany/Sweden/Uruguay.
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