Men (2022) is a horror movie written and directed by Alex Garland. After the death of her ex-husband, a woman goes on a solo trip to the countryside only to be met with bizarre events involving locals. Below is my Men (2022) movie review.
The movie is quite an experience. From eerie sounds heard throughout to neat and even bizarre cinematography, the movie is very unsettling. For example, the score at one point contains operatic music that is unnerving. The vocalization is haunting. There are also quite a few scenes that are creepy and downright disturbing (especially towards the end).
After getting to an isolated house, our main character wants nothing but to relax and enjoy it. She went through a traumatic experience and wants to get away from it. However, very quickly do we realize that this place is not as relaxing as one hopes. From awkward shots to townspeople who have similar faces, it doesn’t take long for our character to become uneasy. Even after experiencing weird occurrences, nobody seems to believe or care to follow up on her claims.
With everything going south, she starts to see weird things as well as being followed by a naked man. As her past comes back to haunt her, the new place starts to add even more anxiety on top of it. At the core the movie is about grief but there doesn’t seem to be more beyond it. By this, I mean there is not much happening. She walks around and encounters creepy things/people and runs back home. She reminisces about her horrible past that all culminates to a very weird ending.
Without spoiling it, it has some very graphic depictions of birthing. One might see it to mean toxic people will always give birth to more toxic people, others will just be confused. Non-horror fans might even be disturbed or even sick. Whatever your reaction, it will definitely be felt and remembered.
I was not sure what the true message of this movie was. With the main character’s ex being abusive, one could say it is about domestic violence or grief of losing them. It is also about not being able to let go of the past and feeling lost and even weak. The ending scene while disturbing shows how toxicity persists and can be born in a new form whenever we try to avoid it. The movie is a slow burn with a few creepy scenes but not much. The men in the town are creepy but that is not enough to make it memorable. By also calling the movie “Men” the movie can be seen as misogynistic crap (per bunch of online reviews).
If you are to watch the movie, go in with an open mind and try not to judge the character based on her actions. Try to look for a deeper meeting rather than a surface message. With that in mind, there are a lot of good things about the movie such as cinematography that can be very creepy at times. Keep in mind that there are a good amount of scenes that show MALE frontal nudity.
Thanks for reading my Men (2022) movie review
