Men (2022)

Dec 25

Welcome to uncanny valley.

Presentation:

This film isn’t scary, it’s trying to invent a new genre. Eerie is the perfect word to describe this film and I think the visuals genuinely capture a feeling of strangeness but never discomfort. It’s a fine line that is balanced to evoke maximum disconnect from reality. The film is presented in a strange frame rate that is reminiscent of a national geographic documentary or British soap drama. Then it utilizes Sony digital cameras with strong HDR with very shallow depth of field and pro mist diffusion to get an even stranger look. The grade is also an uncanny rec709, except with a very odd adjustment to the green moss that makes it look just weirdly fake compared to the natural realism of everything else like the green jacket. The British countryside almost looks beautiful, then it isn’t. And then you have the performances and graphic body horror scenes that are very difficult to watch.

Analysis:

The title of the film reveals a tiny clue as to what Garland intended with this film. After you see the uncanny CGI face of the child, you should immediately start noticing that all men have the same face. This has a lot of promise, I thought there was great potential to explore the idea that women see all men the same, but instead Garland goes for a different direction. It seems the film is more about guilt and healing with less polarizing social commentary about men versus women. It explores gaslighting and manipulation, but I don’t think he suggests that it's motivated by misogyny, it seems like Garland goes for a nuanced take for man’s point of view. During the heart to heart at the end, it offers the possibility that maybe men do it out of love even if it is ultimately wrong. This can be further evidenced by the child wanting to play hide and seek. And yet in the final game, it is the woman that ends up being the seeker. It’s reminiscent of the retributional mental warfare that occurs in complex relationships, constantly shifting from aggressor to victim (gaslighting), or like the flirty tag that ensues with romance. Then you have the sexual references and the tortuous rebirth scenes. I think this tries to illustrate the cycle of psychological suffering that is repeated throughout time and relationship dynamics. Men can hurt women, women in turn hurt men, does it ultimately matter how it all started? But even if this analysis is spot on, it’s presented too poorly and never utilizes its full potential. Garland could have had so much more meaningful commentary through this cinematic vehicle of doppelgängers, but all we got is a metaphor on relationship dynamics? Ultimately the film ends revealing its ace - the house and story is about healing and how one goes about recovering from hurting their loved ones and the hide and seek of suffering that entails. This experience could all be seen as a metaphor for her internal conflict to deal with all this and she only gets resolution and solace after a real talk allowing her late husband to apologize. Even if this is a relatable issue, it seems ultimately a petty theme for such a specifically personal experience.

Conclusion:

This is more of an experience that is clearly designed to unsettle the viewer and explore new ideas. I didn’t like it, but you’re not really supposed to like it. So how do you recommend a film like this? With other films intended to disturb, they need to at least have a message or theme that we can latch onto, but we’re left grasping at straws like all art house films, which inevitably devolve into an incomprehensible mess of metaphors to satiate the director’s desire for artistic validation. The visual experience might make this possibly worth a watch for the curious image maker looking for inspiration in pushing the limits of their craft, but I’m not sure you can say the same for its thematic pursuits. Alex Garland deserved to go to movie jail for this masterbatory picture with no regards at all for the audience. If you’re going to make an art house film, at least have more than self-indulgent scrambled feelings.

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