Alex Garland's Men

[Kane52630]

Well to some it may be too on the nose, but I know a lot of people who didn't get it or understood why everything was happening.

 

[shauner111]

Reviews have been generally mixed which is a good thing to me. I remember when Antichrist was getting railed for being pretentious and too metaphorical, but it’s one of my favorite films. I like movies that make me feel a sense of unease and make me ponder certain elements of my own beliefs.

I do too. But not when it hammers it into your skull leaving no room for interpretation. I hate Lars Von Trier and that movie Antichrist. He’s constantly telling you his warped beliefs and it drives me nuts. I also can’t stand his style of editing and direction but that’s a discussion for another thread I guess.

Garland is pretty good. A bit overrated IMO but I like him. And the trailer was great. I just hope it’s not “toxic masculinity: the movie! Don’t you get what I’m trying to say!? It’s TOXIC!!”. The trailer looked mysterious terrifying, hopefully it’s a accurate reflection of the film.

 

[shauner111]

Well to some it may be too on the nose, but I know a lot of people who didn't get it or understood why everything was happening.

lol I can’t imagine how.

 

[-Arya-]

My problem with Mother! was it’s repetition and hilariously mean spirited/trashy 3rd act.

 

[Closerframe]

I do too. But not when it hammers it into your skull leaving no room for interpretation. I hate Lars Von Trier and that movie Antichrist. He’s constantly telling you his warped beliefs and it drives me nuts. I also can’t stand his style of editing and direction but that’s a discussion for another thread I guess.

Garland is pretty good. A bit overrated IMO but I like him. And the trailer was great. I just hope it’s not “toxic masculinity: the movie! Don’t you get what I’m trying to say!? It’s TOXIC!!”. The trailer looked mysterious terrifying, hopefully it’s a accurate reflection of the film.

That’s completely fair. I’ve come to find that Von Trier is a lot like Cronenberg where there’s generally either a love or hate to a given film and rarely a consensus on what the film actually means. Trier typically does controversial things just to troll people, but for a guy who’s never been to the US, he loves providing social commentary on some of the sociopolitical aspects here. But he also delves head first into issues that very few directors are willing to touch. I deeply respect this because although I don’t agree with most of his views on feminism, mental health, etc there’s a true artistry to him that makes him a very unique director.

Anyway, back to MEN, it wouldn’t surprise me if some people interpret it strictly as a film about toxic masculinity or the role of men in society as a whole—essentially the antithesis of Antichrist.

My problem with Mother! was it’s repetition and hilariously mean spirited/trashy 3rd act.

I agree, although mother! had a ton of great ideas and blends climate change and religion in an interesting way, it really drills the message into the viewers head. But in part, I think that was Aronofsky’s intent since it’s meant to be from the perspective of a Mother Earth and how humans treat her.

 

[CaptainWagner]

‘Men’ Review: Alex Garland’s Most Emotional Work Also Toughest To Decipher – Deadline

Reviews also told me that Power of the Dog had a "vague, confusing ending" so I no longer have any confidence in these critics' ability to piece together even marginally vague subtext.

 

[shauner111]

Reviews also told me that Power of the Dog had a "vague, confusing ending" so I no longer have any confidence in these critics' ability to piece together even marginally vague subtext.

whaaaaaaat!?? Did they actually say that? *hand over mouth*

 

[Asr]

Nobody Makes Films Like Alex Garland. But He Might Stop Making Them.

 

[NotNickFury]

The release date for this snuck up on me. Forgot it was coming out this week. Hoping to catch it soon!

 

[Pennywise]

How Attack On Titan Inspired Alex Garland To Change The Ending Of Men

 

[moviedoors]

What. The. ****.

 

[Kane52630]

I take that as a positive?

 

[Roose Bolton]

I can kind of see how the horror of the titans would translate here. The Rory Kinnear Titan.


Pretty cool that Garland recognises greatness, AoT’s a modern masterpiece of anime.

 

[moviedoors]

I take that as a positive?

Oh yes. I loved it. It is wild.

 

[Closerframe]

Still processing what I watched. On one hand, it felt like Garland's response to Trier's Antichrist while on the other, it seemed kind of heavy handed with its imagery and metaphorical surrealism.

 

[Kane52630]

Just got out.

 

[Closerframe]

After sitting on it for a couple of days, I think it’s my least favorite Garland film, but still thought it was an experience to say the least. Can definitely see some men feeling attacked, but if that’s the case, that says a lot about their character.

 

[Kane52630]

Yeah I already see people (whether it's chads or white females) going after this.

As far as where this stacks up with his other films, I still prefer this over Annihilation. Ex Machina is still my favorite.

 

[NotNickFury]

I will say that this film is gorgeous looking. The cinematography of some shots is quite pretty to look at. If anything, the film looks very good, not just wth the moments of Harper in the woods, but just the use of color.

More than that, I appreciated the tension throughout and how effective silence is. The lack of a score in some moments just made them feel more uncomfortable and this is a movie that would work very well while watching at home in the dark. The ending got me a little 'Wait, what the F?' but I enjoyed watching this one. I mostly know Jessie Buckley through Season 4 of Fargo, but she was a great leading lady here. And seeing Rory Kinnear reminded me how much I miss Penny Dreadful.

 

[Persona]

Jessie Buckley, for my money, is one of the best actresses right now. Beast, Wild Rose, Thinking of Ending Things, Lost Daughter... she's been on a tear.

I liked EX MACHINA, loved ANNIHILATION, but hated DEVS. And while I liked the trailers for MEN okay, conceptually it seems pretty gimmicky. But I will watch it at some point for Buckley. She's an automatic "yes" for me.

 

[Luigi]

Y'all are making me excited with these reactions. Can't wait for tomorrow.

 

[Asr]

Saw this last night. 10/10 for concept, but 7/10 for execution. I liked this movie a lot overall and it definitely blew my mind, but just feel Garland's execution could've been better on this.

The first thing I'd say is that this is one heck of a trippy movie and so far "out there" it's the kind of movie that I bet even most indie studios probably would never want to release. Heck I'm having a hard time believing that even A24 released this. I've seen a LOT of artistically crazy movies but Men might take the cake as being in the top 5 of that list easily. And if there was ever an anti-crowd-pleasing movie that would either upset or confuse the audience, Men would definitely be near the top of that list as well.

I definitely see Men as Garland's further progression of venturing less from sci-fi and more towards allegorical surrealism (and the fantastical), as he kinda started to in Annihilation. At this point I think it's safe to say that Garland could probably work on being more subtle about his allegorical subtext, because some of it was just way too on-the-nose, but at least I appreciated what he went for here (although with basically the subtlety of a jackhammer at certain points).

The acting performances were definitely strong, but I honestly was more impressed here by Rory Kinnear than Jessie Buckley. But by far the strongest part of the film was Garland's directing - he clearly has an extremely unique artistic vision in his movies, he's not afraid to show it, and it shows SO MUCH (which was the aspect I loved the most about this film).

Forewarning: the film has quite a bit of male nudity and some very bloody scenes (but none that are really "gory" per se).

 

[Luigi]

Lordy, looking forward to seeing the behind-the-scenes on that scene.

Doesn't hold a candle to Annihilation but still a solid watch.

 

[Asr]

Out of Garland's films I prefer Ex Machina and Annihilation over this (at #1 and #2 respectively), but agree it's still a solid and overall well-made film. And if nothing else, I'm glad we have bold filmmakers like Garland too - I honestly can't think of very many writer-directors who would invest serious effort into the concept of this film, let alone some of the scenes that are in it.

For me, Garland easily certified himself as grade-A auteur with this film, and I can't wait to see whatever he continues to make.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Yeah, finally caught it today and this didn't work for me. It felt like Garland made a really great folk horror film, then attempted to make a social-commentary horror film, but couldn't figure out how to resolve the themes in the latter so he chopped them both up and stitched them together in one movie.

Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are both phenomenal, as expected. The visuals are stunning - again, no surprise. And I LOVED the folk horror aspects - The "Green Man" especially was a brilliant design and concept, I'd have loved a movie focused wholly on it. But the social-commentary ranged from ham-fistedly obvious to impossibly vague. And then it ends with the all-too-common ambiguous cop-out to avoid giving any actual answers.