Monos

It's clear from the start that Landes is out to make a tragedy about innocence lost and the wickedness of political movements that rule by remote control with the capriciousness of Greek gods. He's succeeded brilliantly.

There are allusions to William Golding's Lord of the Flies, but that fine novel, and Peter Brook's 1962 screen adaptation, though also elliptical, provided far more satisfying drama than Landes somewhat frustrating epic...

There's something ... of Werner Herzog's Aguirre, Wrath of God in Colombian director Alejandro Landes's surreal, wildly beautiful third feature.

Narrative details of Monos are opaque; instead, the film focuses on the shifting power dynamics of this adolescent group, playing out like a fusion of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now.

The performances from the young cast are vivid and utterly credible, yet the conspicuously metaphorical nature of the context eventually becomes wearisome.

Monos is gorgeous, but it is also lucid as hell. And it all happens at lightning speed.

Overly vague and distant, though it leaves memorable impressions with a handful of moments.

Nerve-shredding in its intensity, but utterly captivating, Monos is an exhilarating climb to the top of the Colombian mountains, and a breathless tumble back down to the jungles below.

The visual style constantly reminds me of the aesthetic similarities it shares with Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now', portraying the darkness of the human being in the heart of a Colombian jungle. [Full review in Spanish]

The fresh thrill of chaos -- of teenage abandon bearing down on a broken system -- courses through this dreamy, violent third feature from Colombian-Ecuadorian writer-director Alejandro Landes.