Novelist turned film director Alex Garland’s 1990s debut bestseller, The Beach, was all about a tainted paradise.
There’s another corrupted Eden at the heart of Men, a deliciously weird fever dream fable with elements of jaw-dropping body horror.
Jessie Buckley stars as Harper, a recent widow, who retreats to heal in the English countryside after her abusive husband’s (Paapa Essiedu) suicide.
She rents a sprawling cottage, complete with roll-top bath and lovely drawing room, from a red-trousered type called Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear).
But instead of shaking off her traumatic past, Harper finds herself literally stalked by it.
Her sanctuary is invaded by a mute naked man from the woods, while the village is populated entirely by men with freakishly similar faces (Kinnear x 10).
Men, eh? They’re all the same, is what we’re saying here. Thankfully, there’s more going on than this #MeToo metaphor.
Even if it’s possibly too underdeveloped – after all, there’s a fine line between challenging viewers to bring their own interpretations and just plain confusing them.
What’s not in any doubt is Garland’s gift for twisting genre to uniquely unsettling effect.
Men is finest when it’s a full-on folk horror, not a feminist statement. A preoccupation with olde pagan forces brings echoes of The Wicker Man and the work of Nicolas Roeg.
However, the vivid look is unmistakably lensed by Garland and his long-term director of photography Rob Hardy (Ex Machina) who bring serious mood vibes to the too-lush forest, where a deer corpse decomposes against evil green moss.
Tonally, there’s a whiff of The League Of Gentlemen about Kinnear’s more amusing characters, including a handsy vicar who boasts a very creepy way with a chapstick.
And Buckley is, as ever, utterly brilliant, keeping you emotionally invested in this increasingly far-out fairytale.
Her Harper is alternately terrified and eye-rollingly bored by the toxic men attempting to stifle her.
As to the ending, well… you’ll never un-see it.
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