[Film Review] MEN (2022)

Alex Garland is a world builder and magician. He is a spellbinder. A masterful creator of complex characters and ominous mundanity. Whether a fan of his work or not, Garland is undeniably one of the most creatively enthralling storytellers of our time. 

Be it a new take on the zombie genre with 28 Days Later (2002), the surprising and successful, if not overlooked, marriage of sci-fi and horror with Sunshine (2007), or the creation of a complex and deceptively cunning AI in Ex Machina – Garland always stretches the boundaries of physical and psychological terror. And having explored space, earth, the future, and beyond, Garland’s newest film attempts to answer the age-old question: Why are MEN…?

In fact, that’s not the case at all, though you’d think it was considering the misguided online outrage from bad faith couch-critics proving the absolute power of a triggering title. With only a few stills and the title – MEN – splashed across star Jessie Buckley’s face, people began to speculate what the film could possibly be about, and just how offensive it would surely be (especially towards men).

In fact, MEN is a chilling and surreal tale of grief, and the power of manipulation and guilt. It studies shame, and the inescapable nightmare of loss – first the loss of love, and then the loss of life. Garland creatively folds examinations of original sin and the burden it places upon women. 

Jessie Buckley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things, The Lost Daughter) is transfixing as Harper, a woman escaping reality in a scenic country estate, whose encounters with the locals quickly turn from cordial to menacing. Through tense interactions that always feel a breath away from an escalated confrontation, Harper’s quiet weekend alone transforms into a never-ending cycle of suspicion and fear, exhaustion and acceptance. 

MEN boasts phenomenal performances from Buckley and Rory Kinnear (Our Flag Means Death) that work to generate a narrative thread being pulled tighter and tighter, never letting up for even a moment to give the viewer a breath of release. The film is challenging and disturbing and will surely ruffle some feathers, though not in the way we all may have assumed going in.

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