There are times where his ambitious exceed his grasp, but largely, it’s on point.
However, as long as you have an open mind and a bit of patience, Garland again is offering up something with a lot to say. A significant portion of the viewing audience won’t fully know what to make of it. Garland never makes it easy on the audience, but then again, when has he? Something happens that is hard to shake, though I’m sure plenty won’t know what to make of it. Where Garland runs the risk of losing folks is at the finale. It’s not a soft touch, but neither is what Harper is going through. On occasion, something thematically doesn’t fully land, but his thoughts on the toll emotional manipulation and gaslighting take on a soul are hammered home. Films that are slow on purpose in order to fully embrace the atmosphere and world-building the film gives off. Garland is leaning hard on his two performers, as well as many a metaphor, but the tightrope mostly works. Im looking for some slow-burn atmospheric genre films after watching The Green Knight about a week ago. Often arresting visuals from cinematographer Rob Hardy will linger long after this flick ends, including some gnarly gore that serves an almost profound purpose as things progress. The small supporting cast, aside from the aforementioned Paapa Essiedu, includes Gayle Rankin, but this is all about Buckley and Kinnear.įilmmaker Alex Garland is really going off in some wild directions here, especially as things reach their denouement. As for Buckley, she runs the gamut here, delivering the most complete turn we’ve seen from her yet. Kinnear does a lot of little things that may go unnoticed, but it all adds up. Buckley is in every scene, while Kinnear plays a litany of roles, making for two very different but still stunning performances. This is basically a two-hander, with Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear at their career bests. Garland fans are going to want to pour over this one for as much meaning as possible.
Slow burn movie movie#
Plus, there’s at least one sequence in the movie that you literally have to see in order to believe. For my money, while there are missteps, much more works here than does not.
The question is just whether it will be a positive one or not. This slow burn will leave a mark on you, that’s for sure. What makes Men more than just an exercise in suffering is striking visuals, tremendous acting, and an open-ended nature that leaves at least a bit open to interpretation. If nothing else, it’s more evidence that whatever Garland crafts is worth taking notice of. Less likely to get awards attention than the former and less likely to be a cult favorite like the latter, it still very much carves its own unique path. Writer/director Alex Garland builds on the love of challenging genre cinema that he’s been crafting as a director, with Men fitting in solidly between Ex Machina and Annihilation. It asks a lot of you, both in terms of its formal presentation as well as its thematic elements. Finding the horror in emotional manipulation, gaslighting, and toxic masculinity is tricky ground to traverse, but this latest A24 elevated horror film largely succeeds. Without question, Men is a lot to take in.
0 kommentar(er)
