Men 2022
“It’s not a threat! It’s a warning – it’s a fact!”
Alex Garland’s “Men” is an interesting study in filmmaking, marketing, and perception that certainly will not be for everyone. Garland’s work is typically recognized by his unique approach to topics while airing on the side of cerebral with more than a dash of profundity; but without crossing over into the truly weird and obtuse. Men takes a very different approach. This time around, Garland has eschewed nearly all pretense that there’s much more happening than what is shown on screen… and he’s done it intentionally. While the film isn’t entirely two-dimensional, and its ending is going to be one of the major points of contention among viewers, it certainly wears its metaphors on both its sleeves and has no qualms with making sure you know what it’s on about.
In Men we follow Harper Marlowe as she ventures into the bucolic countryside for a nice getaway. But… A getaway from what? It’s revealed that she’s experienced something traumatic, but the details currently escape us. Early on, we get some wonderful scenes of her thriving despite this [literal] rain-cloud hanging above her… Then things take a turn and her trauma begins to resurface as her world is, once again, made unsafe by those around her.
To get technical praise out of the way: Garland at the writer/ director helm, Rob Hardy as cinematographer, and Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury behind the haunting [or is it enthralling?] score, all deserve entire reviews themselves. The crew behind this film did a wonderful job bringing Garland’s vision to life, and both Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear continue to prove that it’s subtlety, not bravado, that truly inspires memorable performances. This production and the story it tells is difficult, upsetting, disgusting, and infuriating… Though there is hope within the final moments if you know where to look.
The question I think a lot of reviewers have missed in Men is: “Can one ever truly take back their power when so much has been withheld?”
The answer is, “yes”. But that “yes” will be blocked, hidden, locked, and obfuscated from you every step of the way, because those that have historically kept that power thrive off of its absence from your hands. They insist you “bury the hatchet”. That you “make peace with your demons”. That you “leave the past in the past” because “things are different now”. They insist these things all while sitting in the seats they made by holding that selfsame hatchet they now insist you let go of. While holding the power, they once again insist that you relinquish your own by absolving them of responsibility for all they have done. By putting that decision in your hands, they have, once again, put you into a position of being the villain. Now, suddenly, you’re the reason they’re the bad guys; because you won’t back down, they look bad. Because you fight for what is yours, they have to fight you back. Because you. Because you. Because YOU.
Men is very direct with what it has to say about all of this, and that directness is exactly where most critics take issue with the film. Some reviewers from Rotten Tomatoes have said “A better film wouldn’t boil down to ‘The patriarchy, am I right?’” and “Men wears its allegories literally and upfront, with nary any plot to swallow the pill with,” while a reviewer from Mashable loathes that “A horror movie about misogyny should have something more to say.” But, I think these people have missed the point. This film was made intentionally obvious and intentionally clear about what it is and what it wants you to feel… right up until the final metaphor. People that are “left wanting” missed the significance of a small action taken in the final moments of the film and audiences that think you should “Spare yourself the trouble and tell the film-makers you’re busy,” are all forgetting the brutish way these message are often disregarded by the crowds they’re aimed at.
Men stares you dead in the face and tells you exactly what it means to because, as can be attested by other pieces [The Boys and American Psycho come to mind], the scumbags that these messages are often meant for, idolize, rather than detest, their cinematic reflections.
There is no “because you”. There is no “live and let live”. There is no “burying the hatchet”.
Hold. On. To. The. Hatchet.
Hold on to it because you are the one that gets to decide what to do with who you are, where you want to go, and what you want to be in this life. Hold on to it because you don’t owe any one, any thing. Hold on to it because there will always be those that ask idiotic questions like: