Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: MONITOR [SXSW Film - Austin, Texas]
The aspect of being seen through devices takes on a whole new level with "Monitor" [Midnighter]. Made by Directors Matt Black and Ryan Polly, and according to their Q&A, a film which almost came about by accident, is nevertheless a very assured, very slick horror film along the lines with many mainstream ones of late and lore. Shooting in Barcelona with a Spanish FX crew, the movie seemingly creates a very vivid world with some scenes that seem way beyond the capability that should be afforded. A sequence inside a data center and one in the woods using a very specific and cool strobe element and matte work is so much more effective than an independent film has a right to be. The aspect of the narrative where people are scanning internet files as moderators is not new. There has been one other film festival film that did it in the last couple years. But it did not have the cohesion and pacing of this film and a completely different antagonist. As screenwriters (and it seems it was done quickly), the structure of "Monitor" is nonetheless very tight and progressive. The film most specifically follows Maggie (Brittany O'Grady) who had an online incident create tragedy in her life. She now works at this center looking at these videos for Big Tech and approving or rejecting which ones are appropriate.
Maggie has a collection of friends that work with her there that all have their own way of dealing with their issues but just see it as the job. The pre-credits sequence nicely teases what is to come but doesn't give away what its MacGuffin is until later. Say compared to "Fifteen" this knows that the mythology needs to be expounded and then one can go full bore. What visually is there is quickly shown but the way it is done is no less eerie. The directors have created an interesting perspective on "The Ring" in a way but through phones and monitors hence the title. Slowly but surely it moves through the different people but it is the set pieces where each person exists that really makes it move. But what the film does is take not necessarily the easy route in terms of practical application of details whether it be a green screen in a home, a baby monitor or a projector. To give too much more away would ruin it. But what "Monitor" does is create a film with a certain formula that has been seen before but makes it its own beast without losing track of its characters. People have grudges. People want to survive. And those decisions are built into this. Again this is also because of the specific scope and some of the special effects, even though hidden at times, are utterly effective for a low budget film. The way the film got made is its own myth as well but the film, based on the directors' short film on a lark (it was a scene in a gas station) got in the right hands and Protagonist Pictures gave them the reigns. It is great to see a film come together like this, especially when it is slick, good, well-acted and has tight narrative structure and set pieces that fit together just right, all the way to the end. A-
By Tim Wassberg
