The Neolith is not a conventional piece of storytelling. Largely non-verbal, certainly not linear and difficult to place in terms of a time frame, it evades easy categorisation. Perhaps it works more as an allegory than it does as a yarn – and it’s a strangely-captivating experience, wonderful to look at and very immersive.
To the extent that we can talk about a narrative, the film follows four men arriving in a remote place, inhabited only by a handful of people. It looks very early medieval, perhaps, or it could be earlier – the film has some visual clues but by and large, this is a moment out of time. These men are dangerous: they have clearly come through some kind of battle or violence, so ingrained with blood and filth are they. Aggression is in their natures, and they seem unable to behave any differently, inflicting their dominance on those they encounter. However, a lone man is willing to fight back.
Director and writer Daniel Boocock namechecks Jungian symbolism in the film’s blurb; this is a fairly lofty aim for a thirty-minute film, true, but you do get something of those masculine archetypes in here. The incoming men’s motivations are not always clear, but their brutality is, and their lack of speech (the script is only a handful of lines long) helps the film underline that symbolism. This is also a staggeringly beautiful film, making superb use of landscape (I believe the film was made in Denmark) with careful composition in every shot. Lots of shots are done via drone, but this works and doesn’t feel like overkill, as it shows people being dwarfed by their stark surroundings – something important for the film as a whole. The use of colour and the use of natural light is incredibly evocative, too. The Neolith is reminiscent of Valhalla Rising (2009) in several respects, sharing with that film an emphasis on internal states and people almost mute against a backdrop of remote, savage terrain. That’s a compliment: Winding Refn’s vision is an impressive one and there’s certainly space for more of these kinds of atmospheric, allusive films. As an indicator of things to come, this really is something special.
The Neolith (2020) is available to watch for free, incredibly: you can check it out and find a link to the Vimeo here.