Film Review – Men (2022)
Alex garland is a filmmaker/writer who knows how to play the allegorical card. Men is his return to the big screen after a few years writing and directing BBC sci-fi series DEVS which starred Nick Offerman. Now it’s folk horror with even a little bit of body horror.
The film stars Jessie Buckley as Harper, a woman who decides to go for a well earned holiday into the English countryside after a personal tragedy. The death of her husband James (Paapa Essiedu). In hope the countryside will give her a chance to heal from the tragedy, renting a Tudor style manor house in the village of Cotson. After settling in she goes into the woods for a walk it’s here the terror starts, when she approaches an old rail tunnel only to find there’s someone at the other end of the tunnel who decides to chase her she runs, she has nowhere to run.
Every man and even boy all sinisterly looks like the same person (played brilliantly by Rory Kinnear) including Geoffrey the house owner who jokes with Harper when she takes an apple from the apple tree in the garden as ‘forbidden fruit’, the question is he really joking?
There is a big painting of ‘Adam and Eve’ in the house that could be a clue to what maybe going on. It could be an answer why every man and boy wants to verbally abuse Harper, torment her. The barman, the police man, CGI faced boy, the vicar and the naked stalker, even the ancient marbles in the church.
Us blokes can be the nicest people in the world we can also ne the nastiest, most evil, cold hearted people too. Men is a film that looks at grief but also guilt and what we would do in the so called name of love, Did James kill himself or was he pushed? Whatever it was that guilt is buried in Harpers mind now and every so often we get little snippets of what happened. All with an apocalyptic orange tone to the imagery and the male population of the village constantly remind her of her guilt through their actions.
Rory Kinnear’s versatility is impressive and he’s menacing in every character he portrays. Equally each character is an incarnation of the abuse men do to women. Sadly the film rarely rises above it’s allegorical message.
★★
Drama | 15 | UK, 2022 | Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD | 22nd August 2022 (UK) | Entertainment Film Distributors | Dir. Alex Garland | Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin | Buy Men
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
About the Author
