Monos

"You can say that 'Monos' is a beautiful movie. Elegant. After all, the aesthetic of young Colombian director Alejandro Landes shows that he knows how to film. He commands an impressive single shot, knows where to position the camera and how to insert the viewer into this environment. However, it's a pity that he doesn't know how to insert the viewer into the story - which, in the end, is much more important than any setting. After all, in this feature film, the filmmaker puts the audience as a voyeur, an intruder in the life of these young militiamen who must keep a foreign woman hostage while living in society in the jungle. As a kind of dystopia without reason, we do not understand the meanders and the story of these young people, leaving us only the admiration of shots and more cinematographic plans. There is some narrative potency here. It's a pity, however, that it's buried so deep. Selected from Colombia to compete for a spot in the 2020 Oscar for Best International Film, 'Monos' is undoubtedly a passport for Landes to take off on new flights. However, before anything else, he needs to create a great story. This one, despite its similarity to 'Lord of the Flies' and 'The Wave', ends up being just a modern art painting. You admire the beauty, but you don't find content."