Men [Blu-ray] [DVD]
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': 'For me, the main reason I wanted to see MEN was to experience another Jessie Buckley performance. One of the more intriguing actors around, whose work ranges from outstanding (BEAST, LOST DAUGHTER) to over-the-top (FARGO TV series). She\'s just always interesting. She never makes easy choices and she never hesitates to present those choices in as strong a manner as she can.\n\nShe does not disappoint in MEN. Even viewers who dislike the movie (and there will be a number, I imagine) will be forced to reckon with Buckley\'s Harper, a performance that bravely shows a wide variety of emotions and reactions and yet clings to an air of mystery, as if we\'re STILL not seeing everything about this character. It\'s quite a performance, and thankfully, everyone else in the film matches her.\n\nHarper has come to a small British village to rent a quiet, peaceful home "away from it all" following a deeply upsetting experience involving the breakup with and death of her husband. We see these scenes in flashbacks peppered throughout MEN, and they are indeed upsetting on many levels. Harper needs time to heel, if you will. The film dares to build slowly, following Harper on a long ramble through the woods, but eventually, she encounters a mysterious figure at the end of a long, moss-covered tunnel, and the events of the film progress from there.\n\nWith the exception of Paapa Essiedu playing Harper\'s husband, all the men in the film are portrayed by Rory Kinnear, from the somewhat scatter-witted and only slightly creepy homeowner who shows Harper the ropes of her rental home at the beginning of the film to the local vicar to the local pub owner to a spoiled-brat child (yes, that is what I said and it\'s supremely creepy). The device is alternately engaging and annoying, as it can have the effect of pulling one out of the film a bit. I\'m still not certain it was the right way to go. "All men are the SAME men?" Is that the lesson here?\n\nAnyway, Harper goes through a series of increasingly uncomfortable confrontations with various men, including a remarkably chilling scene with the vicar. As Harper bears her soul and anguish to this man of the cloth who seems to offer comfort and understanding, the dynamics begin to shift in ways that are truly nauseating. (Director Alex Garland knows how to milk little details for ultimate creepiness; witness the use of the vicar\'s one fingernail that is simply much-too-much longer than all his other nails.)\n\nElements of ancient mythology begin to weave into the story, and the film spends more and more time on body horror. It\'s all quite squirm inducing not for the faint of heart. Much of the film seems like it\'s going to be creepy but certainly not graphic. But the pendulum tips, and the viewer is in for some rough going! (Thank goodness Buckley\'s performance keeps us anchored in the world, even as the movie grows more and more laden with symbols.)\n\nIn the end, MEN is an interesting mix of the not-so-subtle metaphors with a heavy layer of "yes, but what does it all mean." You feel the point or points are pretty obvious ("men are awful", "relationships can grow toxic," "women have more power than they credit themselves for", "love can be great until its weaponized", etc. Etc.) and yet in the final scene, you\'re left feeling you\'ve missed an awful lot.\n\nI guess the great thing about this is that MEN leaves a lot of room for post-viewing discussions with friends and family. At the end of the viewing we attended, there were numerous clusters of viewers animatedly debating the meanings of the film. Including groups of teenagers. It\'s pretty rare to see a movie force people into discussing it. The experience of seeing it pretty much cannot leave you feeling ambivalent; you\'ll have a reaction and you\'ll want to get it off your chest.\n\nAlthough there are flaws (heavy-handed symbolism, distractingly gruesome body horror, perhaps too much Kinnear), the movie is filled with so much...well...STUFF, that it is almost a force of nature. I admire it greatly, and look forward to seeing it again.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The film is unique in the best way and leaves you thinking about what you’ve experienced, which happens rarely for me these days. It’s probably most comparable to a David Lynch film in that it veers into horror-based surrealism; the ending is very divisive, but it’s a solid antidote to all the junk we mostly get in theaters right now.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': '[At the time of my review, Men has a 3/5 star rating.]\n\nThis movie is brilliant. It’s scary, beautiful, sad, disgusting, fascinating and eerily beautiful.\n\nThere are scenes, like the tunnel’s echo, that are stuck in my mind. It’ll stay with me.\n\nAll of the performances are perfect, lead by Rory Kinnear. I don’t want to spoil your viewing by talking about what he achieves here. Me? I didn’t know what was going on with him. I started to sense it though, and by the end, I was thinking “Good God, Rory Kinnear deserves an Oscar.”\n\nDiscover MEN on your own. Don’t read too much about it. Don’t even watch the great trailer before seeing it.\n\nJust watch it. Experience it. And that’s what my experience was; going in totally blind to the film. It was honestly an “experience”. One unlike any other film since David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DRIVE.\n\nWhat I hope you DO NOT expect is a neatly wrapped-up, Blumhouse style, jump-scare laden, popcorn movie. It sounds pretentious, I get it, to say it, but MEN is a horror story for fans of slow-burn (I’m not a fan of that label) character-driven, it ha possibly a bit of challenging ending, but that’s part of its appeal. For “thinking horror film fans.” Boy. I didn’t enjoy writing that. But in this case, it’s very apt.\n\nI do hope you like it. I’d love to see its reputation and popularity grow. Kind of like Hereditary.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I think there are only 1 or 2 scenes in this movie that made me feel comfortable. The rest had me feeling like I was trapped in the Uncanny Valley. No real jumpscares, just a palpable sense of discomfort and fear.\nbut if you want to feel comfortable and safe while watching your horror movie, it's not for you."}]