Frightfest 2010 – Monsters (2010)
A cloud of extra-terrestrial excitement descended on London’s Frightfest this year as the chatter surrounding the new SF film Monsters reached fever-pitch amidst the nooks and crannies of the festivals main screening space, as SFX artist turned director Gareth Edwards remarkable debut made its UK premiere a palpable sense of enthusiasm flooded through Screen 1 of the Empire Leicester Square as arguably the best received film of the festival entranced its admiring audience. Monsters has already been pigeonholed as this years District 9, a somewhat lazy comparison as although they share similar aesthetics the film is far more of a companion piece to Duncan Jones similarly acclaimed Moon from last year. Whilst District 9 was a solid, entertaining example of genre engineering despite its bludgeoning anti-racism message Monsters surpasses its alleged progenitor as a far more finessed and subtle piece of work, a film which marks Edwards as a natural story-teller in this consistently surprising and lithe film which retains a genuine sense of wonder and mystery in its not necessarily being the fan-boy friendly monster-mash that its misleading marketing may have you believe.
Six years ago a NASA probe disintegrated upon on re-entry to the Earths atmosphere and deposited an alien species spores across the central cartography of the American continent, these seeds consequently partitioning the northern United States from Mexico with an infected zone that is perilous to traverse due to a population of deadly, exoteric immigrants that have contaminated this new 
dominion, the bacteria having evolved into barely glimpsed behemoths whose migrative morphology and hostile behaviour is still under human dissection. Photo-journalist Andrew Kaulder has been assigned to the area with instructions to document the current situation, his corporate paymasters instructing him to obtain footage of atrocities on the indigenous human populace, his being promised some particularly lucrative remuneration the more heart wrenching his reportage. This questionable activity is soon superseded by orders to escort the abandoned daughter of one of his bosses from a threatened Mexico back to fortress America, a journey that the couple attempt to complete via a ferry trip which would ensure they circumnavigate the polluted area, their simple plans foiled when a impromptu indiscretion on the part of Andrew results in Samantha’s passport and money being stolen, leaving them both with only one dangerous option to get home – to penetrate and surpass the chthonic perils of a land crossing across these blemished sectors, the only feasible route to the safety of the northern territories.
Shot guerrilla style in South America with indigenous people taking the roles of locals and guides for a budget in the tens of thousands of dollars, Monsters first triumph is its evasion of the usual storytelling framework as the traditional model of 
introduction to this future world would be to prologue the initial discovery of the otherworldly species and then document the fledgling fracas between the extraterrestrials and homo sapiens. These conventions are side-stepped in favour by placing the activity In media res, by being centred six years into this conflict, this brave new world being subtly textured with a paraphernalia of background details embroidered into the frame, from the signage and rolling news reports, from the graffiti and newspapers, from all these elements a very credible future world is obliquely crafted, enabling the tension to focus on Andrews and Samantha’s hazardous voyage and their flourishing romance (the two have a convincing on-screen chemistry culled from a real-life relationship) in the midst of these epochal events which cement the films real focus and ambition. An early scene, set amidst a glittering composition of thousands of candle-lit graves of Mexican victims of the war marks the films atmospheric credentials, a skittish Walter Salles derived aura meshed with a Cloverfield jeopardy, enabling Monsters to wield a visual dexterity far beyond its CGI proficiency.
Like all the best speculative fiction Monsters concerns are timely, its themes finessed through an imaginary future scenario to illuminate present day cultural and societal concerns, and the notions of immigration and integration flutter throughout the film, with the symbiotic assimilation of the invaders into the Earths bio-system serving as a potent metaphor for the debates that continue to rage across Europe and the United States. Whilst these themes are clumsily handled in one dialogue heavy scene toward the end of the film these are minor quibbles, the net result is a film with more passion and integrity in one of its frames than the bloated tent poles being churned out for one thousand times its budget on the Californian coast, not to mention a film with a fresh and unique ocular texture, a modesty and deftness of touch in comparison to the usual all pervasive visual pollution that poisons most contemporary genre pictures. The SFX in Monsters are integral to the films purpose and design rather than in thrall to it, and the alien species etymology is credible and curious, culminating in a breath taking final sequence that replicates the initial awe of the dinosaurs revelation in Jurassic Park. Like a youthful Terrence Malick directing an early script revision of Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Monsters is an exhilarating triumph that serves as a strong contender for the film of the year.
Well, I’m not sure why that took so long to finish but here we are. I’ll transfer over my last Frightfest review tomorrow which leaves the field open for my first official press screening on Wednesday, I got an e-mail last week inviting me to spend an evening with Harry Shearer at the Curzon Soho for a screening and Q&A of his interesting sounding documentary on Katrina and New Orleans, hopefully I’ll be able to get back into central London in time. Finally I’d be remiss not to pay tribute to Kevin McCarthy and his famous performance in a classic piece of SF allegory, and let’s not forget his contributions to many other moments of celluloid over his long career;
Minty's Menagerie 
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