Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ first reactions: “Even weirder than ‘Annihilation'”

“Alex Garland’s most nakedly horror movie, and also his weirdest”

Alex Garland’s third feature film Men has been praised as his boldest experiment yet by critics.

A press screening of the folk horror took place ahead of its premiere at Cannes Film Festival later this month, with first reactions praising the director of Annihilation, Ex Machina and sci-fi series Devs for keeping things surreal.

Men follows young widow Harper (Jessie Buckley) who has rented a holiday home in the English countryside as she grieves the death of her husband (Paapa Essiedu). As shown in the trailer, she also appears to be seeing Rory Kinnear as various different residents in the village.

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Early reactions have described the film as a blend of Hereditary and Get Out, which is “intense, opaque, challenging and visceral as hell”.

You can check out more reactions below.

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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Garland explained how Men shares some DNA with his previous film, Annihilation.

“In my mind, a film like Men is connected to a film like Annihilation,” Garland said. “They’re very much about how you’re feeling about something. Men is a gut-level film. I’m proud of Ex Machina, I really love it, but it’s an intellectual film. Men is not, I think.”

He added: “When I say it’s a slightly aggressive film, that’s what I mean: It’s coming at the viewer. It’s a gentle movie sometimes, there’s lots of silly humour in there, but it’s also a bit delinquent.”

Men is scheduled to be released in US cinemas on May 20 and UK cinemas on June 1, 2022.

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