Men review

MEN:

ALEX GARLAND DELIVERS ONE MESSED UP FILM! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

A24

Rory Kinnear in Men

 

            A widowed woman goes on holiday in a mysterious village but soon transforms into a living nightmare in Men, the new film from writer-director, Alex Garland (Ex-Machina, Annihilation) in his third directing effort. I’ve been a huge fan of Garland’s work whether as a writer and/or director, Ex-Machina I thought was a brilliant sci-fi film with a very unconventional look at artificial intelligence as well as being one of the best films I saw in 2015, and Annihilationwas a fascinating and suspenseful creature feature. 

            Naturally, I was intrigued to see what he was going to do next and once it was finally announced as Men, I made it a top priority to go see it. It’s…not as good as Ex-Machina or Annihilation, but that doesn’t mean I dislike it. 

            This is still a well-made movie with an otherworldly and foreboding atmosphere, beautiful yet haunting music score, superb performances by its cast, and a jaw-dropping, mindf*ck of a final act, but it doesn’t quite have the thought-provoking storytelling or emotional weight of Garland’s other films. It’s also one of those films that’s extremely difficult to describe, but I will certainly do my best. 

            The film follows a woman named Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley-War & Peace, Fargo, The Courier) who decides to spend a holiday alone at a cabin owned by a man named Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear-James Bond franchise, Wild Target, The Imitation Game) in the village of Coston, following the suicide of her husband. However, as she explores the village and woodlands Harper notices a bunch of strange-looking men that appear to be stalking her and quickly realizes that something is up with this village…something horrific. 

            Harper will need to survive the night and outsmart the men if she hopes to escape from this living nightmare. 

            The film also stars Paapa Essiedu (Murder on the Orient Express (2017)) as James Marlowe and Gayle Rankin (The Greatest Showman) as Riley. 

            Overall, Men may not be Alex Garland’s best film, but it certainly takes the cake for being the strangest and craziest film he’s made so far. I should make this perfectly clear for those going into this expecting a traditional horror movie with a ton of jump scares and gore, it’s not that kind of movie, there is gore and a lot of horrific imagery, but it’s also a very slow, atmospheric film that takes its sweet time before getting into the really suspenseful moments. 

            The first half of the film has a similar tone to The Night House and even follows some of the same beats, a woman with a troubled past goes to a cabin or old house in the wilderness and a bunch of subtle creeps start to happen. However, by the time the climax begins it goes from somber and artistic to full-on exploitation film with a bunch of gore, body horror, and one of the most batshit crazy final acts I’ve ever seen in any movie…and I’ve seen a movie that ends with animated, anthropomorphic food having sex with each other! 

            The music effectively sets this beautiful yet foreboding tone that’s carried until the end of the film and these haunting operatic pieces make it sound like you’re about to enter the great unknown. It makes perfect sense that this movie has excellent music given that it’s an A24 film and most of them usually have awesome music scores. 

            Despite a very small cast, the acting is superb from just about everyone, Jessie Buckley really sells her performance as this woman whose life pretty much came crashing down and looking to heal from her traumas. Rory Kinnear is surprisingly the standout role in this movie as he does an excellent job flipping back and forth from being charming, creepy, and a little funny, but saying more would require going into spoilers so let’s just say this is Rory Kinnear’s equivalent to Jim Carrey from A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

            While I praise a lot of aspects of this film, it does have its share of flaws, one is that the story, while fascinating is very uneven at times and does a lot of telling rather than showing. Also, the themes and subject matter can be very hit-or-miss and I kind of predicted that one of the themes was going to be mistreatment of women and granted, that is a very serious and important issue in the world, I felt it was handled a lot better in the 2020 version of The Invisible Man. 

            Men is probably one of the most divisive movies out in theaters right now as I have no idea whether or not people going into it are going to like it very much. There’s a lot of great aspects of it, but all the unsettling and disturbing sequences or bizarre storytelling might not sit well with everyone. 

            It’s definitely the kind of film that sparks conversations with film purists and analysts and if you’re someone who loves talking in great detail about a movie’s subject matter, then this is one to watch. Those looking for a more traditional horror movie or thriller should probably check elsewhere.