Monolith

A podcaster uncovers a conspiracy surrounding a mysterious black brick in Monolith. A disgraced journalist, credited only as The Interviewer (Lily Sullivan), has resorted to being the host of a conspiracy podcast called Beyond Believable. After receiving an anonymous e-mail, The Interviewer gets into contact with both Floramae (Ling Cooper Tang) and art collector Klaus (Terence Crawford) about a mysterious black brick of supposedly extraterrestrial origin. This begins a trip down a rabbit hole, as The Interviewer tries to uncover the truth.

Monolith Synopsis

Monolith is a sci-fi conspiracy thriller directed by Matt Vesely. The film stars Lilly Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise) as The Interview, who is the sole on-screen character of the film. Shortly before the events of the film, The Interviewer lost her newspaper job, after failing to properly fact-check a story. Taking a sabbatical at her parent’s house, The Interviewer is now the host of a conspiracy podcast.

The Interviewer receives an anonymous e-mail labelled “THE TRUTH WILL OUT” with simply “Floramae King + The Brick” in the body, accompanied by a phone number. The Interviewer proceeds to call Floramae and learns about her experience with a mysterious brick two decades ago and how it was sold to an art collector named Klaus. As The Interviewer begins to dig deeper into the origins of the brick, she begins to fear that the truth hits closer to home.

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My Thoughts on Monolith

With a plot made up predominantly of podcast interviews, Monolith is a conspiracy thriller somewhat similar in feel to 2019’s The Vast of Night. However, unlike that film, which builds to a big third-act payoff, Monolith never leaves the confines of The Interviewer’s house, other than vague dramatizations of the stories told by her interview subjects. In fact, Monolith is closer to a film like Buried or Locke, in which the film focuses on a sole protagonist, who communicates with other characters by phone.

Ultimately, Monolith ends up being all about the conspiracy with a not entirely satisfying conclusion. The ending of the film leaves more questions than answers, including a major WTF moment. However, this is not the fault of star Lily Sullivan, who does a satisfactory job of being the only character on screen, aside from some pet turtles. At the end of the day, while conspiracy buffs might find some enjoyment in Monolith, it does not end up being a particularly memorable film.

Trailer for Monolith