''Monolith'' is a 2016

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by Ivan Silvestrini starring

Katrina Bowden Katrina Bowden (born September 19, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cerie on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013) and as Flo Fulton on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (2019–prese ...

, Damon Dayoub and Brandon Jones. The film was conceived by cartoonist

Roberto Recchioni The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, who began a version of the film in the form of a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

for

Sergio Bonelli Editore Sergio Bonelli Editore (formerly CEPIM and other names) is a publishing house of Italian comics founded in 1940 by Gian Luigi Bonelli (1908–2001). It takes its name from its former president, comic book writer Sergio Bonelli (1932–2011), son of ...

, written together with Mauro Uzzeo and drawn and colored by Lorenzo Ceccotti, incorporating the film’s costume designs by Anina Pinter. The

was released in two volumes in January and May 2017, before the film's release.

Plot

Set in the near future, Sandra (

), a former member of a pop group called Hipstars, discovers thanks to her friend and member of the Hipstars, Jessa, that her husband (record producer Carl), has a lover. While in the Monolith car given to her by Carl, with her two-year-old son David, Sandra heads in the direction of Carl's parents' house, but on discovering Carl's unfaithfulness, decides to divert the journey and head for Los Angeles. The

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

computer found in the Monolith car, "Lilith", advises Sandra to take an off-road route. On the way, Sandra lights a cigarette to relax, but Lilith initiates the car's smoke alarm. The car accidentally hits a wild deer. Sandra screams in panic and checks for what happened. She gives her tearful son her

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

to distract him with a game. While Sandra is outside the car, David plays with the Monolith app which Carl had installed on the phone for Sandra. He accidentally seals the car completely and prevents Sandra from entering, and drops the phone under the seat. Sandra starts looking for different ways to open the car, trying to find help at an electric charging station nearby, but she cannot find anyone and sleeps on the roof of the car for the night. After a night filled with nightmares, Sandra begins to wander around the desert near the Monolith car. She finds an abandoned plane at a deserted airport, where she burns some tires using liquor from the plane’s minibar to form a distress signal, and finds an empty bottle. Then, thirsty, she finds a stream of water. After a while, she returns to the Monolith, where her son David, stuck in his child safety seat, is struggling to breathe and starts to lose consciousness, while the temperature of the car rises as the

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

is switched off. To try and get the car open, Sandra tries to use gasoline and branches to start a small fire, making the

smoke alarm A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detecte ...

sound. As soon as she notices that David is in danger of losing consciousness, she extinguishes the fire with the water she found. Next, the Monolith (and Sandra) are attacked by a hungry

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

. Sandra manages to drive him away and tries in vain to open the car for the umpteenth time. After another night of nightmares, Sandra notices that her son is unconscious, even though he had slightly moved his hand the day before. Sandra begins to lose hope when she notices that the coyote is back. Using a wrench found at the electrical station, she tries to tackle the coyote, which bites her ankle. Sandra understands that the coyote wants the carcass of the deer but as soon as it starts to feed, the Monolith car starts to move, descending down the hill. Sandra, using a stone that was nearby, stops the car. Later, an idea comes to her. Sandra, before arriving in the desert, stopped at a gas station to buy things and saw on TV a cartoon (similar to Wiley E. Coyote) in which a wolf throws a safe from a precipice to recover a diamond. Inspired by this, she decides to push the car further away from the hill, using the wrench to break the stone and intimidating the coyote, making him run away. The Monolith, falling, opens its doors and allows Sandra to recover the small David, apparently dying. To get out of the "hole" in which they seem to be, Sandra reluctantly relies on Lilith and reactivates her, selecting the off-road mode and freeing herself and the child. Arriving in a hospital, Sandra sees David waking up, and the baby calls her mother for the first time (he called her Sandra for the whole movie until now).

Marketing

To promote the release of the film a website was created that advertised the car Monolith as if it were actually real and for sale.

Release

The film premiered on 7 July 2017 at the Fondo Sclavi Festival and on 8 July 2017 at the Cine & Comic Fest. The official release in Italian cinemas was 12 August 2017 and then on the Cinema channels of

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agree ...

from 29 November of the same year.

Reception

Box office

As a film primarily made by an Italian director and crew, the theatrical release was in Italy, with TV and on-demand releases following in other countries. In the first weekend of release in Italy earned €79,975. In total the film has grossed €330,823 in Italy.

Accolades

* Nominated for a

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award cat ...

Award in 2018 for Visual Effects. * Nominated for the Best European Film at the

Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (french: Festival international du film fantastique de Bruxelles, nl, Internationaal Festival van de Fantastische Fil ...

2017.Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
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References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4711924 2016 films 2016 horror films 2010s science fiction horror films Italian science fiction horror films American science fiction horror films 2010s English-language films English-language Italian films American dystopian films Films based on Italian comics Live-action films based on comics 2010s survival films American survival films Films about automobiles 2010s American films 2016 thriller films