Men Movie Review

Men (2022)

Rent Men on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Alex Garland
Directed by: Alex Garland
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A young woman goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside following the death of her ex-husband.

Verdict
This starts with an intriguing premise, but once it reaches the precipice it doesn't know what to do. The first two thirds include a lot of potential metaphors and oddities. The last third rejects the physics of this world it's built for a wild ride with no explanation. It seems like this movie throws a bunch of craziness at the viewer, hoping that we'll latch onto something and provide our own meaning as the movie gives us nothing.
Skip it.

Review
Somehow I missed this Alex Garland movie. I'm a fan of most of his movies like Sunshine, Never Let Me Go, and Annihilation.

After a harrowing experience, Harper (Jessie Buckley) goes on vacation to the English countryside. Upon first arriving she eats an apple from the garden. If you don't get the reference, the movie makes sure to point out it's the forbidden fruit and the garden of Eden. She wants to get away from the aftermath of her husband's death. As the movie continues we learn more about him and that relationship.

Jessie Buckley plays Harper

The countryside is absolutely beautiful, but with the way this is filmed you're always waiting for something to happen. Harper takes a walk and enters a dark tunnel. While she enjoys the echo and makes a melody, you know something is going to happen. Part of this vacation is Harper dealing with her feelings towards her husband. He was manipulative; the cause of much trauma. Despite the prospect of an idyllic vacation, Harper continually faces harassment and scary situations.

The subtext to this is the 'all men/not all men' argument. Rory Kinnear plays all the men in this movie, other than Harper's husband. Each character represents the potential trouble women face. Even male children can be toxic. The priest, who you would assume is safe, makes advances and lewd remarks. The priest blames Harper for problems outside of her control. That's this movie's point. For a woman, no man is safe. Any and all of them can be a potential threat, even children. Everyone she meets expresses different levels of misogyny. This movie is a worst case scenario, or sometimes an exaggeration of the interactions women often have and fear with men.

Rory Kinnear plays the pub owner, Geoffrey, the police officer

Harper decides to give up. She's blamed for other's problems. The cops let a potential threat go. She's disappointed and doesn't feel safe. This is where the movie takes a distinct turn and gets weird. We leave reality. The first two thirds was somewhat grounded. We saw the fear and antagonistic attitude towards her. The last third turns into some kind of wild horror movie. All the men are attacking Harper's house. It gets gross and just strange. The movie takes the approach of let's get crazy and throw a lot of stuff into the movie in the hope that people will derive meaning.

That's not even the worst of it. The birthing sequence marks the point where this movie loses the thread. With the way this ends, it makes the rest of the movie feel superficial. This doesn't have anything to say, at least nothing grounded. You could read this as men harboring other mean, feeding into the perpetuation of misogyny, but that feels incredibly generous. I'm not sure the movie actually achieves that, more than I'm just trying to discern some statement from the movie. On a basic level, the conclusion seems to be that men can be dangerous. I don't want this to have a happy ending where Harper finds the man of her dreams, but I would like more of a resolution than what we get.