Monos (2019)
90%RT Audience Score: 85%
Awards & Nominations: 36 wins & 67 nominations
As visually splendid as it is thought-provoking, Monos takes an unsettling look at human nature whose grim insights leave a lingering impact.
Monos is like Lord of the Flies meets Apocalypse Now, but with a twist of Gummi Bear fun facts thrown in. It’s a visually stunning and intense ride through the Colombian mountains, following a group of teenagers who have lost their innocence to the wickedness of political movements. The performances from the young cast are impressive, but the metaphorical nature of the film can become wearisome. Overall, Monos is a surreal and captivating journey that will leave you breathless.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Neon
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Chingaza National Park, Cundinamarca, Colombia
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for violence, language, some sexual content and drug use.
Year of Release
2019
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 42m
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Language(s):Spanish, English
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Country of origin:Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Sweden, Uruguay
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 13, 2019 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 13, 2019
Genre(s)
Adventure
Keyword(s)
starring Julianne Nicholson, Moises Arias, Sofia Buenaventura, Julián Giraldo, Karen Quintero, Laura Castrillón, directed by Alejandro Landes, written by Alejandro Landes, Alexis Dos Santos, Adventure, R, box office gross $405.1K, produced by Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, Santiago A Zapata, reviewed by Sandra Hall, David Stratton, Tara Brady, Roxana Hadadi, Kevin Maher, David Sexton, Taylor Baker, Andrew Gaudion, Yasser Medina, Luke Goodsell, Brent McKnight, Federico Furzan, William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Peter Brook, Apocalypse Now, Werner Herzog, Aguirre, Wrath of God, Colombian mountains, child soldiers, Latin American history, Mica Levi, minimalist score, global migrant crisis, Dolby Digital, Scope (2.35:1), Doctora Sara Watson, Patagrande — Bigfoot, Rambo, Lobo — Wolf, Leidi — Lady, Sueca — Swede
Worldwide gross: $1,929,915
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,229,929
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,386
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 243,177
US/Canada gross: $406,473
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $469,661
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,342
US/Canada opening weekend: $49,843
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $57,591
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,148
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Moises Arias – Patagrande — Bigfoot
Sofia Buenaventura – Rambo
Julián Giraldo – Lobo — Wolf
Karen Quintero – Leidi — Lady
Laura Castrillón – Sueca — Swede
Director(s)
Alejandro Landes
Writer(s)
Alejandro Landes, Alexis Dos Santos
Producer(s)
Fernando Epstein, Alejandro Landes, Cristina Landes, Santiago A. Zapata
Film Festivals
Sundance, Berlin
Awards & Nominations
36 wins & 67 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (151) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (139) | Rotten (12)
It’s clear from the start that Landes is out to make a tragedy about innocence lost and the wickedness of political movements that rule by remote control with the capriciousness of Greek gods. He’s succeeded brilliantly.
June 25, 2020
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
There are allusions to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, but that fine novel, and Peter Brook’s 1962 screen adaptation, though also elliptical, provided far more satisfying drama than Landes somewhat frustrating epic…
March 26, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
There’s something … of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God in Colombian director Alejandro Landes’s surreal, wildly beautiful third feature.
November 8, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Narrative details of Monos are opaque; instead, the film focuses on the shifting power dynamics of this adolescent group, playing out like a fusion of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now.
October 31, 2019
Roxana Hadadi
Pajiba
TOP CRITIC
The performances from the young cast are vivid and utterly credible, yet the conspicuously metaphorical nature of the context eventually becomes wearisome.
October 28, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Monos is gorgeous, but it is also lucid as hell. And it all happens at lightning speed.
October 28, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
David Sexton
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
Overly vague and distant, though it leaves memorable impressions with a handful of moments.
January 14, 2022 | Rating: 50/100
Taylor Baker
Drink in the Movies
Nerve-shredding in its intensity, but utterly captivating, Monos is an exhilarating climb to the top of the Colombian mountains, and a breathless tumble back down to the jungles below.
August 28, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Andrew Gaudion
VultureHound
The visual style constantly reminds me of the aesthetic similarities it shares with Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’, portraying the darkness of the human being in the heart of a Colombian jungle. [Full review in Spanish]
June 27, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Yasser Medina
Cinemaficionados
The fresh thrill of chaos — of teenage abandon bearing down on a broken system — courses through this dreamy, violent third feature from Colombian-Ecuadorian writer-director Alejandro Landes.
June 26, 2020
Luke Goodsell
The Monthly (Australia)
An engrossing, immersive, unsettling world of isolation, life-or-death struggles, and raging youth. Apocalyptic and oblique, nightmarish and surreal, it’s a dark allegory, one that contains weirdly more Gummi Bear fun facts than expected.
June 26, 2020 | Rating: B+
Brent McKnight
The Last Thing I See
A wild and provocative ride into the magic realism of guerrilla adoctrination. [Full review in Spanish].
June 24, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Federico Furzan
Cinelipsis…
Plot
Teenage commandos perform military training exercises by day and indulge in youthful hedonism by night, an unconventional family bound together under a shadowy force know only as The Organization. After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Monos features a young cast of mostly unknown actors, including Moises Arias, who is best known for his role as Rico in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.
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