Men is a beautiful nightmare, littered with encrypted and transparent messages that’ll leave you pondering its insanity for days to come. 

 

If you’ve yet to see a trailer for it; don’t. While it doesn’t give away the bulk of the story by any means I can’t imagine how disturbing this film would be if you went in blind with no knowledge of the people residing in the quaint little village. 

 

Embodied by a minimal cast: Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are the sole of the film. Buckley delivers a wonderful performance as a woman suffering with her own emotional turmoil but Kinnear is the true standout here, providing one of the best performances of the year. Without the incredible commitment from both leads, this film would be nowhere near the perfect vision that Garland so clearly wanted to present. 

 

As you can figure from the title the film does have some serious messages about men as a whole and misogyny as a whole. These messages are astounding and disgusting but are also so much so tapped into the reality of the world today. From beginning to end someone is gonna hate this film because of its views or its slow burn first half but for those willing to be content with the message Garland is conveying, there’s a hauntingly beautiful film here. 

 

When I mention the slow burn first half of the film, Garland creates a perfect atmosphere of the gorgeous scenery, the perfect village, the perfect country home but quickly everything is revealed to be not as it seems. Men does a terrific job representing one side of an abusive relationship and we see it play out through the shouting, as well as the physical contact, right to the bitter end. 

 

From the first act to the third act, you would think we’d jumped into a whole other feature as the tone remains the same but the pacing dials it up to the max. Men’s third act is one of the greatest feats I’ve witnessed put to screen, it’s relentlessly disturbing and never lets up. 

 

All I’ll say without spoilers is to be comfortable with gore and body horror as a whole because if you’re unprepared - this film will scar you for life. However its scarring moments make the film all the more meaningful, it’ll have the viewer dissecting every aspect Men has to offer for days, weeks or months to come.