Current Student, Ryan Patrick Lonergan's feature film, Kill the Monsters, premiered in June at Frameline, the largest LGBTQ film festival in the world. It has since played in over a dozen festivals, domestic and international, with more to come.
The film was recently reviewed by the Los Angeles Times who called it, “A joyous one-off; a bold, snappy, head-spinningly clever tale of three gay New Yorkers in a polyamorous relationship who cross America in search of physical and emotional healing only to find themselves at war — with each other as well as with an international array of lesbian neighbors in their Santa Monica condo complex.” They went on to say, “If it all sounds weirdly, grandly quirky that’s because it is. But in a good way, thanks to director-editor Ryan Lonergan’s fast-paced, fast-talking, allegorical script that purports to parallel American history from 1776 to 2017 but can just as enjoyably be taken at face value.”
The film is a tiny micro-budget comedic political allegory. In this comic fantasia, Frankie (Jack Ball) becomes the third in the relationship with Patrick (Ryan Lonergan) and Sutton (Garrett McKechnie). But when Frankie mysteriously falls ill, the newly formed “throuple” decides to find the treatment he needs. Their cross-country journey mirrors everything from the founding of America, the Civil War, and the Great Depression to the Middle East conflict and American exceptionalism. Featuring stunning black-and-white photography, wickedly funny dialogue, and lots of sexual politics, Kill the Monsters is a historical, absurdist delight.