In a time when studios in Hollywood have been playing it safe, one studio has taken chances time and time again: A24. If the name sounds familiar to you, that’s because they are the studio behind films such as the Oscar-winning “Moonlight“, “the Green Knight”, and “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once”. As an Indie studio, A24 seems to be more centered around creativity as opposed to commerce. This has led to their films falling into two different categories for me: exceptionally made or respectable but, not for me. While I absolutely loved “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once”, I didn’t feel the same with last year’s “Green Knight”. Now, we have “Men”: A24’s latest film by “Ex Machina” director Alex Garland. Where does Garland’s folk horror film fall? A total masterpiece or too niche for my own enjoyment?
The film starts off with a tragic and harrowing event in which Harper (Jessie Buckley) witnesses her husband (Paapa Essiedu) take his own life. After experiencing a traumatic event, she takes a trip to an Airbnb located in the countryside. As soon as she arrives, she is greeted by Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), the weird yet well-meaning owner of the house where Harper is staying at. Once she settles in, all seems well for Harper in her time of healing. That is, of course, until her morning walk is interrupted by an intruder. After being chased in the woods, Harper starts to notice some unsettling things haunting her.
Right off the bat, I really like the premise of this film. There’s room for isolation, atmosphere, and an arc for our protagonist. However, with this being an A24 film, it’s never just that simple. There’s plenty of symbolism, complex themes, and euphemisms, that usually get woven into the narrative. With “X”, for example, The simplistic slasher narrative was supplemented with themes of growing old, moral panic, and religious trauma.
With “Men”, themes of misogyny, benevolent sexism, and toxic masculinity are explored. However, the way the film chooses to explore a majority of its themes is where things get aggressively pretentious. One of the few moments where the film explores its themes well is when Harper visits the local priest. In this scene (as it is depicted in the trailer as well) the priest is seen judging Harper and gaslighting her, similarly to how the Bible has been historically weaponized against women. However, there are certain moments, such as this film’s climax (which I will not spoil), where I was left confused. Overall, the film either doesn’t go far enough or it does so in a frustratingly muddled manner.
The film may take place in a small village but, it’s held down by an even smaller cast. Jessie Buckley is great as Harper, our main female protagonist. She plays up the sympathetic side of her pretty well, getting the audience to feel for her. Rory Kinnear, on the other hand, plays pretty much everyone else and does a damn good job at it. He displays his acting range wonderfully throughout the film via Eddie Murphy-style cloning. A stand-out moment, for example, is the bar scene where he portrays the aloof Geoffrey, the bartender, a random hooligan, and a local member of law enforcement. For someone to play various personalities throughout the entire film, it’s actually quite impressive.
As far as atmosphere goes, “Men“ mostly succeeds in this category as well. Ever since he did the cinematography for “Dredd” back in 2012, Alex Garland has proven himself to be visually masterful behind the camera. He, along with DP Rob Hardy, has crafted a great-looking film. At the start of the film, I genuinely felt uncomfortable. Not with what the film was saying but, just in terms of the atmosphere and tension. However, I can only deal with long and drawn-out shots of nothing happening for so long. In a film that clocks in at about an hour and 40 minutes, it feels like it’s well over 2 hours. However, once we get to the third act, we are treated to a ton of gory and unsettling moments. While I did squirm in my seat during that scene, I found myself thinking “okay, that was nuts but, what was the point of that?”
Similar to how I felt with last year’s “Green Knight”, I left the theater feeling perplexed by “Men”. There’s stuff I did enjoy but, I was overall lost by the time we get to the last half of the film. This is another case of a film being too niche for its own good. If you enjoy this film, then more power to you. If you don’t, I can’t 100% blame you. I’m fairly certain that “Men” has an audience. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like that audience includes me.
Final Verdict:
“Men” has a great concept and a rock solid cast but, as atmospheric as it is, the film becomes far too toffee-nosed with its thematic exploration.