Cerebral British writer-director Alex Garland's latest opus Men is almost a cross between two recent psychological horror films, Darren Aronofsky's mother! and Ari Aster's Midsommar. Like the former it is largely a parable meant to convey an easily relatable but perhaps too simplistically on-the-nose message, via nightmarishly disturbing imagery. Like the latter it concerns a damaged woman on vacation, working through an unhealthy relationship (or in this case its aftermath).
Men stars Jessie Buckley as Harper Marlowe, a widow who has rented a sprawling old house in the English countryside, and Rory Kinnear as the house's owner Geoffrey (among other characters). Harper's backstory is doled out to us in dribs and drabs, and we learn that she and her husband (Paapa Essiedu) were headed for a contentious divorce when suddenly he fell from a balcony to a grisly death (Was it intentional or accidental?). Throughout the film Harper experiences flashbacks to these horrific moments, providing some of the film's best-acted scenes.
But quickly her vacation takes an unsettling turn as a naked, homeless man begins stalking her and at one point tries to break into the house. Harper calls the police and the man is taken away, but her psychological trauma is far from over. Of the plot I won't reveal any more, but this film certainly delivers the creeps in spades.
