Year: 2019
Director: Alejandro Landes
Country: Columbia
Language: Spanish
It has been called "Apocalypse Now on Shrooms" and been described as a mad thriller that reminds one of Lord of the Flies, Alejandro Landres' Monos made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award. Since then it was inducted as the official Columbian entry at the 2020 Academy Awards. It won't win, not when its going up against Bong Joon Ho's Parasite, but it's still a remarkable feature regardless.
This film takes place on remote mountaintop, where eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
Fear, power and pride. These are the emotions our characters live through as they run roughshot on a dreadful landscape that seeks to consume their souls. Their complete freedom from authority manifests itself into wild and bizarre rituals that are made even more vivid with Meca Levi's tense musical score. Jasper Wolfe's cinematography is beautiful, capturing the dream-like state of their existence.
From the beginning we sense that this story is headed towards a clataclysmic climax wherin doom and destruction is inevitable. Director Alejandro Landes was clearly inspired by the volatile situation in his home country of Columbia, though he makes great effort not to tie the characters' conflicts with any specific geographical reference point.
Monos is a remarkable picture that seems to be getting overlooked in the grand scheme of cinema. It is a familiar tale (re: Lord of the Flies) told in a far more abstract and surreal way that will prove to be both inspiring and challenging. Audiences will find themselves under its spell long after the picture finishes.
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