Men film review: A ‘smart and stylish’ horror
Garland deftly balances scares, humour and real emotional trauma. Harper isn’t a scream queen, however a rational lady. Taking a stroll, she sends her voice echoing via a darkish tunnel, and has the sense to run when a mysterious determine rushes at her from the opposite finish. The sound of that scene is elegant, with music and voices on the soundtrack suggesting howling banshees. The movie’s cinematographer Rob Hardy, a long-time collaborator of Garland’s, creates a lush, inviting look, extra gentle and color than shadow.
Among the many photos the digital camera returns to usually is the font within the village church, carved with the traditional picture of the Inexperienced Man, a legendary character whose face is surrounded by leaves rising from his head, surrounding it like a lion’s mane. What does he imply right here? Males is the type of movie it may be enjoyable to decipher, whereas accepting that no single resolution to its puzzle exists.
Close to the tip, Garland ramps up the surreal components and the particular results, gliding in direction of an over-the-top ending. Talking after the New York preview screening of the movie, Garland mentioned that he hadn’t fairly labored out the climactic episode when he’d completed the screenplay, however later determined to do one thing massive and impressive. It is simple to admire his audacity, even whether it is an excessive amount of even by surreal requirements.
A glib misreading of Males may cut back it to: “Ha! Males! They’re all alike.” However the movie’s ending emphasises how a lot Harper’s trials and Garland’s movie have been about her profound tangle of affection, grief and understanding.
★★★★☆
Males premieres on the Cannes Movie Competition, and is launched within the US and Canada on 20 Could and within the UK on 1 June.
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