There have been many hallmarks throughout the first decade of A24’s existence. Along with two Best Picture Oscar-winners, there have been several titles that helped to define a brand and create the expectations that have been carried to this day. Few have felt as essential to understanding the unique spin on genre quite like Ex Machina (2015), which was part of a group that ushered in the perfect cross-section of critical acclaim and obtuse filmmaking. At the center was Alex Garland, whose follow-up wouldn’t be distributed by the studio, and found the beloved screenwriter-turned-director taking an eight-year hiatus. Unlike with Ex Machina, his return was met with a head scratch and some of his most confounding filmmaking to date (those were his words). Even with financial setbacks, this would be the restart to a lucrative partnership that has continued to try and capture the lightning of their original project.
Before covering where Garland’s idea for Men (2022) came from, it’s important to note where his career went following Ex Machina. The film was one of A24’s films to win an Oscar, this time for Best Visual Effects (Garland also received a Best Original Screenplay nomination), and led to the director becoming the hot new director. While he had been dabbling in sci-fi screenwriting over the previous 10+ years, his new turn into full control over his projects meant that he could take more ambitious risks. This resulted in Annihilation (2018), which was also acclaimed but whose box office suffered from the collapsing nature of distributor Paramount Pictures. This was followed in 2020 by the FX on Hulu series Devs, which found him moving towards TV serialization. It was also the first time that any of his projects received significant mixed reviews and made some wonder if the perceived visionary was capable of rebounding with a return to film.
Despite not having a great origin story for Men, Garland claimed to have been working on the narrative since sometime between developing Sunshine (2007) and Never Let Me Go (2010). Part of his inspiration stemmed from his fascination with the European mythological figure of The Green Man, whose face had foliage grow from the center of his face. He was also fixated on creating a horror film that wasn’t overtly scary but had an assuming nature of being horror. As the story grew, he became fixated on the psychological manipulation of women and the nature of imagining all men to be similar. He has admitted to Googling “men movie” and becoming excited when he realized that he could use such a charged yet simple title.
Despite the high concept, he chose to keep the cast very minimal. Leading them was Jessie Buckley, who was coming off her first Oscar nomination for The Lost Daughter (2021) and a noticeable uptick in popularity. The other prominent actor was Rory Kinnear, who was given the challenge of playing almost every male role in the film. Ironically, he had become known for playing multiple roles during the time, including the TV series Our Flag Means Death, which he found as a delightful challenge.
Garland has said that his creative process is less designed to take full authorship and more input from others. While he crafted the bulk of the narrative prior, he would eventually give Buckley a chance to provide input. In that way, she helped to define the tone of Men, which Garland says is both similar to what he wrote but also developed on a day-by-day basis, where the unpredictable happened. Likewise, Kinnear was keen on working with the make-up department to help define the looks of his characters, of whom he treated equally and gave backstories to, no matter how minuscule their role. It should also be noted that despite the dark tone, Kinnear was said to be chummy with his co-stars in between scenes and cracking jokes.
Men was shot sequentially throughout various locations in England. This helped to create a scene overrun with captivating pastoral shots that elevated the material into something more surreal. Given that there’s imagery suggestive of The Bible, including an early shot where Buckley is seen pulling an apple from a tree like Eve, it helps to strip away the sense of modernization and finds something more detached and surreal. Other experimental elements include a 17-minute scene (roughly 20% of the running time) where Buckley acts without significant dialogue being spoken. The notorious finale, which involved elaborate and grotesque props, would take four days to shoot and helped Garland center the film's themes of birthing into something more direct while being incredibly opaque. Despite the practical effects, several more would be added after the fact.
Garland has been intrigued by the diverse reactions. Even as it’s played festivals, he’s found recipients commenting on whether the film is meant to take Buckley’s side or paint her as a villain. Given that 2022 was also at the tail end of Me Too Movement’s prominence, it also led to conversation about women being gaslit and the damage of toxic masculinity. With some vulgar imagery intact, Men would prove to be his most divisive film, which was also reflected in the box office. Along with mixed reviews, the film would gross $11 million internationally, which was respectively three and four times less than his previous works. It would also drop out of the top 10 movies in America after only three weeks. He’s admitted that Men had an inaccessibility, though he has been cryptic on providing answers on what the audience is watching.
Despite the repulsion, the filmmaker didn’t receive as bad a hit as one would expect. According to critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film still earned a fresh 69% rating, though many reviews came with caveats to the overall quality. Hector A. Gonzalez of InSession Film led the praise when suggesting, “Men may have some issues, but it’s never a slog; it does have some missteps while reaching its outrageous grand finale. But, for me, it’s a step up from Annihilation.” Zoe Rose Bryant of Loud and Clear Films shared the sentiment when claiming, “Men represents Alex Garland’s return to horror and A24, serving up a social thriller that studies the malice of men, ably anchored by Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear.” Matthew St. Clair of Cinematic Words of a Chaotic Gemini succinctly captured the opposing viewpoint when announcing, “More like, Meh.” While the film left some skeptical of Garland’s potential, the challenging nature left his reputation largely unsoiled.
For what it’s worth, the downtime wouldn’t be too long until the director was back working with A24. At the time of promoting Men, Garland was already in production on his political drama Civil War (2024), which may have altered his course genre-wise, but returned him to being a buzzworthy creator. He has since gone on to make other films with the studio, and it looks like he will continue in the future.
For now, it’s safe to say that Men isn’t a film that will join Ex Machina in the pantheon of essential A24 titles. While it continues to explore complicated matters, many still see Garland’s swings as misses, leaving it at best a minor bump in Buckley’s ascending career. Given that it followed three highly acclaimed titles in the 2022 release calendar, it stands out more for its shaky reputation. Following Garland’s genre-bending fever dream was something a bit more conventional, if perceptively a bigger pivot from the studio’s off-kilter brand than anything released in the previous year. It was a documentary about one of the most beloved figures in Garland’s homeland, which has only become more mythic since her passing. Whereas Men explored the helplessness of women, this one would paint the rare exception.
Coming Up Next: Elizabeth: A Portrait in Part(s) (2022)
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