Monos

Absolutely breathtaking stuff from Landes, who persistently favors a show-don't-tell approach that feels incredibly cinematic. Driven by some gorgeously surreal visuals and Mica Levi unnerving score, much of this multi-layered gem luckily remains open to interpretation, as it paints both a hopeless and hopeful picture of human nature driven to its most primal extremes.

What I didn't like was its utterly empty content and the vain stylizationthat tries to veil this shallowness. It tells us how brutal and inhumane things become in the absence of law/state a la 'Lord of the Flies.' Yet to create something polished and stylistic out of this, Landes uses all the means of sound & image, close ups, and sliding shots to extract the most affect out of the audience. I don't like this search for more and better technique. I like movies with faults, with scars.

Jaw-droppingly gorgeous, immaculately shot, this film boasts meticulously layered symbology. Though it's hampered by a gruelingly slow first half, it picks up dramatically and concludes with pretty much a perfect ending. In the tradition of Apocalypse Now it intersects actual historical war with existential philosophy, but ultimately it's much than a modernized Heart of Darkness or Lord of the Flies--it's more of a Thomas Cole's The Voyage of Life in film form.

Beautifully shot and scored, but ultimately a little frustrating to watch as neither the characters nor the plot ever become fully engaging.

The front half is very Lord of Flies, followed by a dive into Heart of Darkness. Obviously, Landes's is better and more complex than this simple description, but it does get at the intensity of the story. The grueling shoot is painted (sometimes literally) on the actor's faces, while the landscape provides a pretty daunting obstacle. The score is really something special as it ties in the confusion of these young solders with the nature that imprisons them.

Could be a Harmony Korine film. And I really don't mean that as a compliment.

Pointless to begin with (I'll turn on the camera and y'all do something), and further went off the rails by representing itself as English primary over Spanish when there were only two lines of English used.

As a series of beautiful and arresting images, this is almost recommendable (and may play better on a larger screen), but ultimately this slapdash mix of LORD OF THE FLIES and APOCALYPSE NOW buckles under its own pretensions - details of this strange society's underpinnings and functions are left maddeningly vague and obtuse; if Nicholson is supposed to be the "hero", we know even less about her, making her efforts to escape (and subsequent behaviour) difficult to parse or find resonant.

Büyüleyici bir görsellik ve vurucu bir ses kullanımıyla oluşturduğu muazzam atmosfere sırtını dayamış ama bir filmi tek başına bunlar iyi yapmaz. Edebiyatta ve sinemada önceden işlenmiş bir konuya yeni bir bakış açısı getirmiyor. Şık ama sığ.

Has very very problematic perspective. Highly disappointed.

monos is a tough pill to swallow. the vignette-like structure of the script is definitely not for everyone. the visuals and the score are out of this world, and the the actors do carry their roles pretty well. but the deliberate pacing is somewhat thorn in the side of this film. this was by no way unintentional, Landes knew exactly what he was trying to accomplish, though we have to agree what he's accomplished is firmly outside the mainstream territory.

Aesthetically wondrous. Both ethereally beautiful and grimly, scratchingly tactile. The craft here is almost overbearingly impressive, but it is backed up by uniformly strong acting from the young actors and it feels refreshingly uncompromised. All this powerful filmmaking is used in the service of a just cause. The big problem is pacing and sloppy structure; periods of the film seem to have no narrative or thematic purpose (that I can see) and lessens emotional engagement.

Mica Levi is the blood pumping through this movie’s veins. Her textures with the visuals create an immersive experience.

More a collection of incongruous scenes than a cohesive narrative. Most of them are well done, but don't amount to much.

February 2019 / Forget

It's not necessarily that it's too on the nose, but too exploitative to feel real. It goes for too much spice on too little meat. While at the same time not even really being spicy, but just using salt. Too slow and tame to be actually good exploitation. Probably because it's so caught up in its own visual style. Which in itself is cool, but... :/ It's less badass than it'd like to be, and the third act especially seems ultra forced. As if you'd need 80 mins just to work up to that „twist“.

Spectacular Scenes!!! Brilliant Filming!!! dificult and very challenging project for cast & crew (all staff) !!! but the screenplay...!!!

I unfairly went into this thinking it'd be a spiritual successor to Beasts of No Nation. But Monos has no insights on child soldiers. Instead, it wastes time focused on overwrought artistry in its editing & cinematography. The Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness influences are constant, but unlike those pieces it says nothing about adolescence nor man's turn to evil. Most of all, the lack of a compelling entry-point character makes the last half hour painfully dull. Avoid.

Visually arresting, generally compelling. It does lay the Lord of the Flies references on a little thick at times but it's consistently interesting, if never quite hitting the bullseye. Jasper Wolf is a cinematographer to watch.

Captivating movie about kids forced into violence and the hierarchy they create. I was fine with the ending but it as a whole left me wanting more... B

Fantastic setting, and every shot is beautiful - even if some feel a little self-indulgent. The set-up is great too, but the development could have been stronger. Soundtrack didn't work for me.

obnoxious color grading and claustrophobic feeling camera but so much happens in this, it's nuts. one of my favorites of the year.

Absorbing visuals and a narrative that covers a range of themes.

The vignette style isn't an excuse for not engaging your audience, American Honey and Tree of Life for example, successfully capture our imagination while remaining obtuse, if that makes sense. Monos follows that tradition continuing beautifully shots, somewhat strange images, and and vague allusions. For me this film is about the primal urges within us all, and how inevitable they are when we leave our comfortable status. The engineer-hostage transition to as primal and violent as her captors

04.10.19 Usame Beyoğlu Sineması

(COWS OF NO NATION)

Monos iyi bir film fakat handikapları da var. Rehin tutulan bir kadın doktor'un ıssız yerlerde 8 çocuk tarafından zapt edilmesini anlatıyor. İlk başlarda seyirci konuyu çözmeye çalışıyor. Filmden tek saniyelik bir kopukluk bütün hikayeyi kafa karıştırabilir. Ama o filmdeki kötü son. Arkası yarına kaçmayacaktın. Sicario'ya özenmeyecektin. Asla 1 çocuğu hafife alma.

From the opening wide shot I was hooked. Landes managed to create atmosphere perfectly with some touches of surrealism that made it feel otherworldly at times, he was able to capture madness and violence while also just making every shot count/memorable. As frederic said, unnerving score, but brilliant. Even when it took place in a small area at the beginning it felt huge while never losing the internal nature of the conflict. It wasn't always a pleasant watch but it was always intriguing.

7-, Perdede, Antalya M. Cinemaximum

"Rexx"

18. Filmekimi - Beyoğlu Sineması.

Promising beginning, mediocre ending. Overrated.