Men Review

Men sees the cult genre filmmaker Alex Garland move into the elevated horror genre. What he delivers is one of the most divisive horror films in a long while.

Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley) is a recently widowed woman who goes on a two-week vacation in the English Countryside. However, she must deal with the aftermath of her husband’s death, a naked stalker, and the misogyny of the villagers.

Men was a film that had many reasons why audiences would be interested in it. Alex Garland has a great reputation as a director and screenwriter, Jessie Buckley has proven herself as an incredibly talented actress, and Men was produced and released by DNA Films and A24. A24 has made its name with elevated horror films like The Witch, Hereditary, and Midsommar. Men had all the credentials a film fan would want.

Men was at its strongest during its first half. It had an eerie, unsettling tone that was fitting for a horror movie. This eerie tone was set up early when Harper arrived at the house in the village. She met Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), the eccentric owner of the holiday home who had an odd, countryside vibe to him. He said some odd things during their interactions which added to the film’s off-kilter nature.

The eerie feeling continued when Harper went out on a walk in the countryside. She walked along the disused rail line which had included a tunnel and disused buildings. The most memorable scene in the film was when Harper walked down the tunnel and played the echo. She created a haunting beat that played throughout the film. There was barely any dialogue during Harper’s walk and Garland was able to make this mesmerising, especially when there were background actions.

Men does continue a British tradition of rural horror. Films like Screw Dogs, The Wicker Man, and Eden Lake were about people from the big city going to a remote part of the UK. In those films the main characters face strange and hostile locals. Harper had that same experience with all the men she encountered during the film. Since it was men that were hostile to Harper it played on two of the major themes of the film: misogyny and gaslighting.

Harper suffered at the hands of men in this film. Harper’s relationship with her husband, James (Paapu Essiedu) was a toxic one. He tried to guilt and gaslight Harper into staying with him, something that Harper refused to let happen. All the other male characters were played by Rory Kinnear and nearly all of them showed aggression towards Harper. A schoolboy called Harper a bitch and the vicar tried to pin the blame on James’ death on her. Even the arresting police officer showed a lack of sympathy towards Harper over her ordeal.

This focus on misogyny and victim-blaming made Men a film influenced by the #MeToo movement. It was similar to Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho which was also influenced by the movement and showed female characters dealing with male aggression and inappropriate behaviour.

Buckley shows why she’s such a well-regarded actress. Her performance was terrific in Men. She was strong, determined, and willing to speak her mind against the men of the village and had a sense of wonder when she was alone, and acted afraid when faced with danger. She was wonderful to watch.

Men has developed a polarising reputation. In America the film earned a D+ score from CinemaScore participants. CinemaScore users tend to be more casual cinemagoers, so anything below a B is considered bad news. The scores on other user-based websites like IMDB, Letterboxd, and Rotten Tomatoes audience score have also been mixed. All this made Men similar to mother! because they were elevated horror movies made by acclaimed directors and earned a mixed reception.

Like mother!, Men had a heavy focus on religious imagery and allegory. This was present early in the film when Geoffrey warned Harper not to use the apples because it was forbidden fruit. However, a lot of this religious imagery was added so the director could show off and give his film more substance than it really had. It was pretentious and inflate a director’s ego.

This art-house style was at its worst during the final act. The film went in a surreal direction which was designed for film students to write essays about instead of entertaining audiences. The end was bizarre and unsatisfying.

Men had a great lead and Garland clearly made a film with ambition. But ambition isn’t enough if the story is lacking.