Monolith is Matt Vesely’s directorial debut, and it’s an interesting piece of lo-fi, single-location science fiction storytelling, but whether or not you’re going to be on this ride to the end is going to depend on how well you can suspend your disbelief and accept that someone could be this focused and driven in the face of everything going on around her.
Monolith stars Lily Sullivan as our lead character; known only as ‘The Interviewer’ we never hear her name uttered aloud or even see it written down at any point. When speaking to people on the phone she only introduces herself as “a journalist”, presumably because she doesn’t want people to associate her with the badly-researched article that has ruined her career and left her so desperate for work that she would stoop to doing a mystery podcast, of all things. While searching around for some sort of story to talk about, some mystery worthy of her attention, she receives an anonymous email that simply says “Floramae King + The Brick” along with a phone number.
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What begins as little more than a shot in the dark soon spirals into something altogether more sinister as The Interviewer finds that what she first thought was a hoax or a one-off, a strange occurrence with a single person and a single item, might instead be something altogether more terrifying. As she speaks to others who have also seen these strange, possibly otherworldly objects, she realises that she’s on the cusp of a story that could revitalise her career, could make her famous again and erase the shame of her past.
Lily Sullivan is marvellous to watch in this film. She has to carry it almost entirely alone, with other characters such as Floramae or art-dealer Klaus consigned to being nothing more than voices on the phone. She imbues the character with an absolute determination to chase the story. She never stops to think about what it might cost her, or what she might be risking by pursuing the story. We see, also, that the character is not always entirely honest, bending the truth as she lies to people about whether or not she’s recording them, editing their voices for the podcast to change their words around, leading the audience to wonder if we can really trust what she says.
The film is, of course, not without some issues. One of which is the trailer. If you’ve watched the trailer for Monolith you might go in expecting a very different sort of movie. It’s one of those trailers that adds scenes that aren’t in the film, that make you think the story is bigger than it truly is, which can lead to disappointment. Another small issue is the inescapable fact that The Interviewer could stop this at any point. She really could. Not only that, you could argue that she SHOULD have stopped. Yes, of course, if she did then there wouldn’t be a film, but it can be a little hard to accept that she’s potentially endangering herself and others over, at the end of the day, a podcast.
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Monolith is an entertaining, engaging and even occasionally surprising piece of sci-fi, carried along by Lilly Sullivan’s excellent performance. But the story is a little daft, we never truly learn much about the lead character, and the ending is one that’s likely to leave some viewers unsatisfied. All that said, it’s one that’s definitely worth checking out if you get the chance, especially for those who like these kind of stories that focus on a single character and location. Fans of Solis, Buried, Right at Your Door and other movies like that should give it a chance.
Monolith is out on Digital platforms on 26th February from Blue Finch Films Releasing.
