Men (Alex Garland)

pixelburp · 09-02-2022 5:50pm #1

Garland's latest has a first trailer, which can be easily categorised as "enigmatic". Stars the currently in demand Jesse Buckley. Not much to go on really, but with Ex Machina and Annihilation among his other writing credits, I'm definitely keyed in for now.

https://youtu.be/HKJ4Thgk1Js

johnny_ultimate · 09-02-2022 6:15pm

I’m hot/cold on Garland, but Jessie Buckley is good enough that I’d basically watch whatever she shows up in.

~Rebel~ · 09-02-2022 8:44pm

Have loved every script he's written, and the few he's directed too, so am very hyped for this!

Slydice · 09-02-2022 9:20pm

I freakin jumped with those .. breath? transitions!

Mr Crispy · 09-02-2022 10:56pm

Buckley is brilliant in the couple of things I've seen her in. Looking forward to this.

pixelburp · 23-03-2022 2:42pm

A full trailer has appeared; this looks like eery, thrilling stuff. Is it my imagination, or is Rory Kinnear playing all the male characters? Though I think Buckley's accent wavers a little throughout the promotion.

https://youtu.be/pt81CJcWZy8

Mr Crispy · 23-03-2022 4:15pm

Re: Kinnear, yep, all apart from the airborne hubby.

Slydice · 23-03-2022 9:21pm

Hrmmm.. doesn't have the mysterious feel to it anymore that the teaser had. Still though..

gmisk · 23-03-2022 9:26pm

A24 has really been smashing it lately

Arghus · 27-03-2022 12:14pm

Looks extremely creepy, I'm interested.

sydthebeat · 27-03-2022 1:54pm

I'm more interested after seeing the trailer than the first snippet. it looks like a more conventional "haunted by unresolved past experience" thriller now

pixelburp · 05-05-2022 1:39pm

Initial reviews for this are suggesting it to be hugely divisive, with many so far comparing it to Mother! in terms of reactions - people either loving or loathing it with little in the way of apathy. Actual scores all over the map as a result.

flasher0030 · 05-05-2022 4:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119019190#Comment_119019190

Was looking forward to this, based on the comments above. But if it anywhere in the same universe as Mother, I'm out. Biggest pile of dung shlt I have ever seen. I enjoy most films but I am bitter against the "film" for wasting 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.

brevity · 02-06-2022 11:26pm

So I watched this tonight and I enjoyed quite a lot of it. Not so sure about the 3rd act...wasn't expecting that.

[Deleted User] · 03-06-2022 12:35pm

I'll give this a chance because Garland has a relatively interesting track record and in the the hope that it's not a ham-fisted brick-to-the-face clumsily-messaged pile-of-shite the likes of which Jordan Peele has been producing in the last few years.

ThePott · 04-06-2022 12:21am

To me this felt like a film that thought it had something profound to say but it felt rather trite. I also don't think the themes or ideas are enough to sustain the runtime. I do think it's going to be one of those films that people will dig in to looking for deeper meaning but I don't know how much there is to be find, it seemed pretty clear what direction this was going from the title and trailers at the very least.

Some interesting visuals and cool moments but ultimately wasn't very satisfying. Jessie Buckley did great and Rory Kinnear was excellent. I liked the score at times and enjoyed how the film was shot but it felt long and rather aimless. Totally lost me in the last act and it felt like it wanted to hammer home it's point even more and did so in a very clumsy, graphic and disturbing way. It's a strange contradiction of a movie that manages to be subtle abut also incredibly blunt.

The horror elements didn't scare me, the dramatic moments didn't grab me, on the whole it just wasn't great. Not sure who I'd recomment this to.

apache · 05-06-2022 9:23pm

Saw this earlier. Bizarre but liked it. Will probably have nightmares.

johnny_ultimate · 07-06-2022 11:39pm

A pretty terrible film alas. A mess of lazy analogies, cheap shocks, and some awful special effects (the teenager… christ, I hope that was meant to be that unconvincing). I tend to have a good tolerance for so-called ‘elevated horror’, but I was totally tuned out by the time the third act collapsed into empty surrealism and grotesqueries.

Jessie Buckley is often the best thing about good films, and here she’s the best thing about a bad film. Rory Kinnear is clearly having fun hamming it up. But they’re stuck on a road to nowhere.

Snake Plisken · 27-06-2022 9:27am

First of all I'm a big Garland's work up to this point and was really looking forward to this. But this was a real disappointment. Great performances from Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear and the first 2 acts of the movie was beautifully shot and held.my attention but the last act body horror stuff didn't make any sense and no explanation at the end. I will rate this 4/10

Btw I haven't seen Mother but it sounds like it is very much like this so I doubt i ever will.

Fysh · 27-06-2022 12:21pm

I feel like I'm going a bit against the grain in saying that I liked this, but for me it worked (on a first watch, at least) as a Mother!-like experience. I'd say it was good rather than great, and relies a lot on Jessie Buckley's performance, though the cinematography and score are a pleasure as well. The themes are kind of gestured at rather than explored in any depth, which is a bit disappointing given Garland's earlier work. I will be interested to find out what I make of a second viewing.

A lesser film than Ex Machina or Annihilation, but to be fair I really liked those.

How Soon Is Now · 29-06-2022 10:29am

Watched this last night didn't love it didn't hate it to be honest I don't really know what to take away from the whole thing!

Ended up watching one or two explanation videos on YouTube afterwards and to be honest I don't think that helped how I feel about the film seeing as a lot of people seem to be coming to the conclusion the film and its themes are built around the whole toxic masculinity thing!

I haven't seen anything officially confirm this but either way its an odd film especially the ending!

pixelburp · 01-07-2022 9:25pm

Started the thread so feel duty bound to add some comment, having finally got a chance to see this. I have been a fan of Garland's work in the past but at first blush that was by far his weakest work - and then some.

More than that, it was a plainly awful film. Often handsomely shot and scored to be fair, but the meat of the thing was an adolescent, shallow attempt at profundity and pretension towards some notion of toxic masculinity. Subtle as a hammer to the teeth but lacking anything resembling an actual point or idea behind it all. Except just bad men are bad. Garland tripping over himself to be an ally without the apparent smarts to have something useful to say.

And then the last act swerve into grotesque body horror seemed like a shock entirely for its own sake. Seemed like the FX department got to have some fun, so good for them they had a chance for some practical, squishy props.

Possibly the most professionally made ham-fisted undergraduate polemic masquerading as art, I've seen in years.

[Deleted User] · 01-07-2022 10:04pm

Wow, will give this a skip I think then.

Sounds like it's up there with Candyman 2021 in terms of clumsiness of finger-pointing.

Men (Alex Garland)

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