During a Getaway, a Terror Follows a Young Woman

Jessie Buckley in "Men"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Over the last few years, writer-director Alex Garland presented immense talent as a new science-fiction filmmaker with his two films “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation.”  With “Ex Machina,” Garland laid out a straightforward story with intriguing ideas, whereas in “Annihilation,” he went for bigger ideas, but in such a way that showed his growing ambition as a complex storyteller.  Given his experience beforehand as a screenwriter in the genre, it was clear he had as much potential to depict these ideas as he had at scripting them.

Now, Garland takes a break from sci-fi and moves into folk horror with his latest film, “Men.”  Despite committed performances and chilling atmospherics, this is a frustrating misstep that shows Garland unsure of what to do with the thoughts that he presents.

After the death of her husband, James (Paapa Essiedu), Harper (Jessie Buckley) decides to take a vacation in the English countryside.  Not long after she arrives, Harper is soon terrorized by the male residents of the community (all played by Rory Kinnear).

Buckley has been turning in wonderful performances ever since her breakout four years ago in “Beast,” and she continues that impressive run as a woman who’s trying to put the worst behind her.  She shows heartrending bouts of emotion in the film’s flashback scenes, which make her early days in the countryside seem all the more tranquil because of how at ease Harper seems with being away from her distress.  One of her finest sequences is a stretch of the film where Harper’s exploring the countryside, and there isn’t any dialogue, just Buckley keeping us engaged in how her character interacts with her new surroundings.  Then, as she begins to be threatened more and more, Buckley shows a sense of strength in her character as she begins to fight back against the dangers that continue to horrify her.  

Kinnear exhibits wonderful versatility as he portrays multiple characters.  Between distinct speech intonations, body movements, and behaviors, Kinnear inhabits these various roles as he creeps us out with each persona.  Whether it be Jeffrey the landlord, a creepy man in the woods, a local vicar, or other inhabitants, Kinnear shows impressive work in giving us chills through this series of disturbing characters.

Garland’s screenplay has some interesting ideas at play, and they’re handled fairly well throughout the first hour, despite some heavy-handed religious symbolism.  However, once the movie transitions to its last half hour and tries to do too much with its premise, it gets to the point where the narrative goes overboard in trying to say what it has to say, but ends up not saying much at all.  Whatever you decipher early on gets lost in the muck of what he brings to the story later on, with several elements clashing and making it difficult to glean what the movie’s trying to say in its overall message.

The cinematography by Rob Hardy shows the natural beauty that juxtaposes the horrors surrounding the locations.  As Hardy accomplished in Garland’s other two films, he has the ability to frame the lushness and greenery of forest areas to make that color pop off of the screen with its beauty.  Between this, an unsettling scene where someone stalks Harper outside the windows of her house, and shots of figures from a distance in the dark, Hardy calls upon his ability to absorb us in unsettling shadowy areas and gorgeous colors of outdoor landscapes.

As a director, Garland establishes disquieting atmospherics to make us apprehensive about what Harper will be facing.  This works for the first hour of the film, but it’s in the last half hour where Garland does something different.  He goes from low-key arthouse horror to heavy arthouse horror rather quickly, with the movie becoming bogged down in grotesquery after being much more effective in its chillier, quieter sequences.

Garland is someone who has shown before that he can convey his ideas in an impactful way, which is why “Men” is as underwhelming as it is.  However, if he can come back to horror somewhere down the line and have a firmer grasp on a theme, I’d like to see him in this genre again.

Grade: C