'Monolith' Makes One Location and Actor Go a Long Way in a Sci-Fi Thriller Big With Ideas

The Plot: A podcast host gets sucked down the rabbit hole of an unsolved mystery in this Aussie one-hander from director Matt Vesely and screenwriter Lucy Campbell.

The Verdict: “I wanna tell you a story. You might not believe it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I need to tell it anyway. I have a secret. I’m the only one who can share it. The only who is willing. And when I tell this story, I will change everything. All you have to do is listen.”

These lines of dialogue are from the Australian film Monolith, which screened at South by Southwest (SXSW) last year and is currently an iTunes selection for “What We’re Watching.” For the purposes of this review, however, the same lines could be coming from me, the writer, to you, the reader.

Monolith follows a scapegoated, down-on-her-luck reporter, known only as the Interviewer (Lily Sullivan), who is slumming it as the host of a new podcast called Beyond Believable. When she follows up on an anonymous email tip while hiding out in her parents’ otherwise empty house, she gets ensnared in a mystery involving preternatural black bricks — shaped like gold bars — that people all over the world have received in an unknown way. 

Volumetric scanning of the bricks uncovers strange symbols, sealed inside, which appear to be an alien language, or some sort of data set, maybe a message from the dead. As the Interviewer investigates them, her podcast goes viral while people’s old wrongs begin coming back to haunt them.

Draped in sci-fi thrills, the ensuing 94 minutes are reminiscent, by turns, of Arrival, Annihilation, The X-Files, and the sleeper pandemic hit, The Vast of Night. There’s a bit of body horror thrown in, and at times, the atmosphere of dread is so thick that even the slow opening of automatic window shades becomes scary. Through it all, Sullivan is the only face onscreen; Monolith is essentially a one-woman show, with other actors appearing as voices only.

Outside the usual awards-season suspects, like Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, this underseen genre gem is the best movie I’ve seen in a long while. It’s a welcome return to midnight movie fare now that the Oscars are over and this year’s SXSW is in full swing. Monolith combines a strong character arc with an engaging plot that, by virtue of its single-location conceit and the power of suggestive dialogue, lets the viewer build out the narrative and thematic framework in their own head.

We’re left to ponder personal responsibility, journalistic responsibility, the role of the media in spreading dangerous ideas (through sound or other means), and whether we really believe what’s happening or just want to believe that’s happening. By the end, Monolith has shown us a window to the world and thrown a black brick through it, shattering misgivings that confession is anything but good for the soul. If we refuse to confront them honestly, then burying our sins just means burying ourselves.

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