20/08/2024 - UK comedy performer Nina Conti brings her alter ego, “Monkey”, to the big screen in her feature-length directorial debut

A stalwart on both the UK comedy circuit and the acting scene, Nina Conti is chiefly known for her exceedingly popular ventriloquism act with her puppet “Monkey”, in which she (or is it actually Monkey?) deconstructs the “dead art” of ventriloquism and explores the duality inherent in performing such an act. Conti’s simian alter ego is now given full form in her feature-length directorial debut, Sunlight, recently premiered in competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Radio presenter Roy (Shenoah Allen) decides to commit suicide in a backwater US motel. Waking up in his RV, Roy finds he’s been saved by an unlikely hero: a person wearing a full monkey suit. He soon discovers that Monkey is Jane (Conti), who – after making a number of bad life choices – has decided that “Jane” doesn’t exist and Monkey is the one who’ll be making all the decisions now. Monkey – who never takes the suit off, even in the heat of the American desert highways – and Roy banter and flirt as they drive, Roy deciding to dig up his father’s corpse to reclaim an expensive gold watch, payment for a childhood of neglect. As Monkey/Jane soon find their past also beginning to catch up with them, the unlikely duo wonder whether being someone else will work for them at all.

This quirky relationship drama has echoes of Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2014), both dealing with damaged loners who hide behind masks to deflect their problems. There’s also a slight hint of the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson, with characters that drift between realism and grotesquery. What works here is the fact that Roy is just as screwed up as Jane – ultimately, the film is more about him than it is about her. This dynamic gives their relationship a believability and emotional heft within the confines of the surreal world that the film builds up. He never really questions Jane’s decision to wear a suit – indeed, he seems to be almost envious of her determination to keep the Monkey persona from dropping – and accepts Monkey for who they are. With great chemistry between Allen (who is also the co-writer of the film) and Conti, their relationship over the movie grows organically with even a couple of more intimate moments that manage to skirt the fine line between broad comedy and poignancy. Conti is as great as always, and those who have glimpsed her on stage will delight in seeing Monkey realised as more than the traditional puppet on her hand. But Sunlight is not her act transposed to the screen. While there are certain touchstones that both share, the film is very much its own entity.

Given that much of the movie is focused on the two of them bantering in an RV, Conti manages to imbue the film with a sweaty energy. This is partly physical, with the constant heat of the film’s US backwater setting giving everything a visceral quality (one scene sees Monkey pouring ice into the costume, addressing many of the practical questions we might have about how Jane keeps it up), but there’s also a sense of desperation, of the constant need to run to somewhere that seems slightly indefinable. The pacing of the film is sometimes a little off – the end seems rushed at points – but overall, this is a darkly charming oddity of a movie.

Territories in which Conti is well known will probably find festival screenings and small theatrical runs a good possibility. Outside of Conti’s fanbase, its status as a quirky UK production (despite being set in the USA) should also garner interest. If good word of mouth continues for the film after its Edinburgh bow, then a VoD release should also prove popular.

Sunlight was produced by UK-based companies Anyway Content and Metro International, and New Mexico-based Inspirado. Its international sales are handled by Metro International.