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Five years following Darren Aronofksy’s Mother! (2017), Alex Garland is now the latest male filmmaker to give us a biblically heavy, artsy film on toxic masculinity and gender expectations in modern society with Men.
Garland has shocked and depressed us in various fields of storytelling from novels [The Beach in 1996]; to screenplays for other filmmakers like Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002) and Pete Travis’ Dredd (2012); to a mini-series with FX’s “Devs” (2020); to finally directing his own movies Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018). The man has always been a bit of a pessimist, fictionally speaking, but with Men, he really outdid himself.
Set in the woods of Hampshire, England, after witnessing her husband James (Paapa Essiedu) jump out of a building window to punish her for wanting a divorce, Harper (Jessie Buckley) is haunted by memories of her trauma as she takes a small break away from home. Only her personal holiday turns into a nightmare when all of the similar-looking men in the area (all played by Rory Kinnear) try to irrationally guilt trip and gaslight her.
Just like with Mother! and Robert Eggers’ The Northman (2022), I’m once again shocked that a major film studio – in this case, A24 – chose to give Men a wide release. Considering how insane the whole third act becomes, I’m not at all surprised Garland’s new picture has whopping D+ audience rating on Cinemascore. This is definitely not a movie for people who enjoy Star Wars and Marvel and are just looking for something to see on a Friday night with a date or friends. There is a lot of potential in a male filmmaker making a feminist statement in their work.
But even if you take away all the existential symbolism on screen in Men, you just have the story of Adam and Eve for the #MeToo era. Film is a visual medium, so mission accomplished, to an extent, but I would have preferred Garland to have told his message with a little more depth. I’m happy to see Buckley continue to shine with her acting career since Michael Pearce’s Beast (2017), and she’s great in Men, too. Yet, I wish Garland had given her more of a character to build on besides a basic metaphor. Same goes for Kinnear, who is a fine character actor but has no proper connection between all his roles here except: “Don’t you know men are really bad?”
Garland is a good, interesting writer-director, but he’s a little out of his element regarding Men, unfortunately. His aesthetic and style are appropriately suspenseful throughout the movie, and the leads do their best. But for people looking for a more grounded, isolated horror-thriller from recently, David Bruckner’s The Night House (2020) might do the trick.
Are you a fan of Alex Garland’s type of dystopia? Was ‘Men’ your kind of movie? Let us know in the comments!
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