Movies are made to tell stories, spread messages and morals, and most importantly, to make people in the audience feel something. Now that feeling is not always something that is warm and fuzzy, sometimes that feeling is scared, tense, and disgust, which can be uncomfortable, but a movie being able to create these strong feelings is truly an achievement. When the vast majority of films are bad or average, they are unsuccessful in making the audience feel anything, except for maybe boredom. So although Alex Garland's new film Men can be incredibly disturbing at times, that is what makes it so good and memorable. He takes beautiful scenery and safety, and he turns it into total insecurity and paranoia.
Men is the story of Harper, a recently divorced/widowed lady, who is in search of some freedom from her dread and grief. So she retreats to the peaceful British countryside for some reprieve. But it quickly turns out that there will not be as much peace as she thought. It started almost immediately upon arrival, Geoffrey, the owner of the rental property makes a few unnecessary and uncomfortable comments towards Harper, but she just tries to ignore it, so she can have her space. Then when she goes on a hike later, she finds out she is not alone in the woods and gets chased out, only to have a naked man follow her home. So much for relaxation.
The next walk she goes on is to the church, where she tries to let out some of her anguish, but more men come to ruin her time. When leaving the church, there is a disturbed teen who tries to harass her, and when it seems like the vicar has come to save the day, he ends up blaming her husband's death/suicide on her. Finally she flees to the pub, where she finds out that her naked stalker has been freed. So feeling unsafe, she sprints home, and then the movie gets real tense, and then totally flies off the rails.
There are a few different ways to look at this film, but they all kind of come to a bleak outlook on humans. When Garland was asked about the film, he said that it could be interpreted that all men are the same, and that they have awful tendencies, or it could be that to Harper all men are the same, and she could be used as a stand in for women, especially those who have gone through a traumatic event. Personally, I do not see this having to pertain solely towards men being awful, but the majority of the credit should definitely go that way. It was a very frustrating watch, because Harper had gone through some horrible things, and all the men she encountered would say or do something that would only compound the problem. While watching, I could only shake my head at idiocy of the comments made by them.
One way in which Garland amplified this idea was by using the same actor for all the predatory men, from the landlord, to the vicar, to the naked man, the policeman, and even the kid was a de-aged version of the same guy. Rory Kinnear was literally a man of many hats, or I guess wigs would be more accurate. If I am being honest, I did not realize it was the same guy playing all terrible men, until I heard it on a podcast. Then I was able to see it. While watching I noticed that some of the characteristics of the characters were the same, but I just chalked it up to me not being able to discern the difference in British people. Instead, it was the director trying to bang his point over the viewers head of the similarities of the men.
Now, let's get to the weird! But we will start out slow. One of the cooler parts of the movie came when Harper went into the tunnel, and she started to do the echoey singing thing, which is in the preview. I do not quite think this would happen, but it would be cool to try and makes some music that way. Then the silhouette of a man appears from the shadows, and it starts to chase her. Then there is the naked man. Not only is it a little unsettling to see a naked man outside of a ruined barn, but he also had this greenish earthy tone to his skin, and he had some lacerations on his face as well. This was also compounded by him in the scene after he was released from custody, cutting a slit into his forehead and inserting a leaf into the slit, and after that, he slowly transformed into a tree person, which was also a little disturbing.
When the naked tree man came back to the house for another assault, he blew some dandelion seeds into the air, and Harper inhaled one, and she started tripping, everything went topsy turvey, and when she came to, there was an arm sticking through the mail slot in the door, and in one of the grossest, but predictable scenes, Harper stabs the knife into the arm, like in the upper forearm area, right smack dab in the middle, and the man slowly pulls his arm out of the slot, cutting his arm in half, in an incredibly gross and hard to watch scene. The movie also makes sure that the viewers really get to enjoy the gruesomeness though. As the predatory being shifts to the various men that had harassed Harper, they now all have the arm that has been slit in two, and the grossest of the sequences is when the vicar pins Harper on the counter and has her throat in the middle of his arm. Just imagine being in that position, chilling.
Garland then puts the cherry on top with one of the most insane sequences I have ever seen. The predator becomes pregnant, and he then develops a vagina and gives birth to another full-grown man, and then this man goes through the same process, and this occurs like three more times, until finally the last guy, Harper’s dead husband, is birthed out of one of the guy’s mouths. When asked about the scene, Garland commented on how odd it is to see people’s reactions to seeing live births and C sections considering the fact that it is the way we all came into the world. Although true, it is still weird that he went around showing people these pictures to see people’s reactions. Also, it is very jarring and graphic to see it happen on a massive screen.
The real question is, what was this sequence of males birthing males trying to get at? My theory is that it was alluding to predatory men giving birth to more predatory men, and if there is nothing done to stop them, then the process will continue to occur, and it will only get worst. Unless someone stops them, and in this case, Harper stopped the problem from continuing, now she did it with violence, by using an axe, but in a real world situation, education can also work.
This movie is really only comparable to two others that I have seen, and those are Midsommar and Mother!. Midsommar has the folk horror elements, and it does a good job of creating horror in broad day light, and it also has its disturbing and graphic moments that are hard to watch. Then in Mother!, the movie replicates it in its super symbolic and falling off the rail moments. Both movies have some level plot that is followable in their first act or two, but in their final acts, they become very weird and fall off the rails in a way that makes you scratch your head and question what you are watching.
I would recommend going to see this movie, as weird and disturbing as it is. It is something new and very different, even from your typical horror film. It is very provocative, and it also has audiences with hard stances on both sides of how they feel. If a film is divisive, it must be good right!? Garland does an excellent job of creating tension and making the audience feel a sense of despair. I give this movie 3.5 stars with a high recommendation of seeing it.
Other Movies This Week
Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers: A surprisingly self-aware movie that seems more geared towards adults than kids, and it basically explains why they don't need a movie.
King Richard: As I sit in a hotel room watching whatever is on, this came on HBO, and now when I watch it, all I can think about is that this story is about two of the greatest female athletes of all time, but they frame it around the dad instead of the daughters and the continued lack of spotlight put onto the females role in the story. Not my original thought, but one I heard, and that has stuck with me. With that being said, it is still really good and captivating.
New Rankings:
Men: 3.5 Stars
Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers: 3 Stars
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