Alejandro Landes – Monos #LFF2019

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Alejandro Landes, director of the film Monos.

Alejandro Landes is back talking about Monos, his third film, in competition at the 2019 BFI London Film Festival. Landes confirms that Monos is an allegory to talk about Colombia but also to talk about war nowadays. Besides, the film can also be considered as a coming-of-age story as it portrays teenagers going through that important and fragile phase in life. In its mixing genres, Landes reveals that he got influenced by war movies like Apocalypse Now and from teen movies like Harmony Korine’s Gummo. Since Alejandro Landes is also an architect, his goal is always to be faithful to details, even when rituals are involved.

Monos: High in the mountains of South America, above the billowing clouds but with gunshots heard in the distance, a motley group of child and teenage soldiers train and wait for instruction. They stave off boredom by fucking, playing and fighting. This might be some teen rave gone feral, but for the deadly seriousness underlined by the presence of an American hostage, the Doctora. Monos has inspired feverish buzz wherever it has screened this year and comparisons to Apocalypse Now and Lord of the Flies are not off the mark in mapping out the film’s terrain. But this is also a wildly original vision from Landes and screenwriter Alexis dos Santos, referencing horrors on their own continent. The camera prowls over mud and organic decay, cutting swathes through the jungle, all to the strains of Mica Levi’s visceral score. Monos sparks with dark adrenal electricity and it’s completely, utterly thrilling.

Monos is released in UK cinemas across UK and Ireland on 25th October 2019. For more information visit the official website here , or visit the Facebook page, and find on Twitter #MONOSFILM.

To discover more about the film, click here.