Men Movie Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Released by A24
Written and directed by Alex Garland
100 minutes, 2022, Rated R
Released on May 20th, 2022
Starring:
Jessie Buckley as Harper Marlow
Paapa Essiedu as James
Rory Kinnear as Geoffrey
Gayle Rankin as Riley
Zak Rothera-Oxley as Samuel
Sarah Twomey as Police Officer Frieda
Sonoya Mizuno as Police Operator
Review:
Can we all admit that A24 films are a genre all their own? Do y’all think we can we manage that? From Under the Skin in 2013 all the way to X in the spring of ’22, the independent studio has become must-see for bringing certain standards into play in all their movies – elevated performances, underlying (or overt) grieving, the loss of sanity, and a slow burn mentality (we’re firmly NOT looking at you, Green Room). And don’t you dare call it “elevated horror”! We’re not even opening that can of worms here; there isn’t enough time in your day for me to get on that soapbox.
The newest entry in the A24 subgenre is the brilliant Men, a film destined to be ranked right near the top alongside Hereditary, The Lighthouse, and Midsommar. Written and directed by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Annihilation), Men is a strong change in pace and style for the sci-fi heavy writer/director. Garland handles the task with aplomb, crafting a powerhouse flick that merges three different horror genres in one film (that is also a deft study on grieving).
Harper Marlow (Jessie Buckley; Chernobyl) is taking a much-needed vacation at a manor in the English countryside. She’s grieving the suicide of her boyfriend, James (Paapa Essiedu; I May Destroy You), who threw himself from the apartment building they lived in together as she watched in horror. She leans on her best friend, Riley (Gayle Rankin; GLOW), as she tries to feel herself again. The charming manor should be just what the doctor ordered, but Harper soon discovers an entire village full of off-putting and outright repulsive people. She’s chased by a naked homeless psycho, insulted by the local vicar, and brushed aside by the police as if she’s insignificant. It’s clear that none of the men in the village see her as anything more than the “damsel in distress” at best, but when it comes to the evil men do, Harper is about to find out that there are no limits.
It has the visual pedigree and sensibility of the best Hammer films. Men also features a career-defining performance from Rory Kinnear in a laundry list of roles. I can’t lie…there are a couple of moments where the sheer amount and variety or Kinnear is a little disorienting (which only adds to the freakiness of the last twenty minutes). That isn’t to say Jessie Buckley is a slouch by any stretch of the imagination; her character study on grief and the prejudice that women suffer is nothing short of sublime.
Men opens as an exercise in paranoia for Harper, and all the horror of the first third or so is rooted in that paranoia – all the men either judge her, dismiss her, or straight-up assault her in one way or another. It quickly gets to be quite harrowing. Then the more folk horror aspect of the village comes into play; the history and mythology are brought to the forefront and the conspiracy flavor creeps in. Again, this is prime A24 right here, but they haven’t hit you with the third stylistic change into body horror.
I’m here to tell you the final twenty minutes will rival anything seen in Society. I say that with a straight face, too. It’s not done on a scale that overblown (this is Alex Garland for A24 in 2022 and not Brian Yuzna shooting independent in 1989, after all), but the quality of the goop and gross is a total match! Men takes you places you aren’t initially expecting to go while getting you there in unexpected ways. That’s just about the highest compliment that you can pay a film.
Men also highlights the worst of what the male of the species is capable of…not to mention what we’ve been getting away with for a very long time. It’s frankly uncomfortable at times. That’s also a compliment; Alex Garland writes a script that you can take as a unique horror experience without any of the message if you’d prefer (breathe a sigh of relief, chauvinists ), but the social commentary is potent as hell and about as timely as any writer-director could hope for. It’s a home run shot, plain and simple.
Bound to be one of their more divisive movies, Men shows us that the A24 subgenre is only getting started. It also proves that Alex Garland is a name that should be at the forefront of the discussion when you’re talking top-notch writer-directors.
How you feel about the evil that men do? Well, that’s entirely up to you.
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