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The Lobby: Men (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-23 16:20:23
Imported:
2022-05
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Annihilation director Alex Garland has said outright that he believes "a story is a 50-50 split between the storytellers and the story receivers," and that his new horror movie Men leans into that idea particularly strongly. He also says he doesn't know what some of the ancient pagan symbolism he's portraying in the film actually means. So how to watch, or discuss, a movie that the writer-director intends as a Rorschach blot, revealing as much about the viewer as it does about the storyteller?

Keith and Tasha give it a shot here, discussing the film's intense, primal images — what they bring across overtly, what they suggest without confirming anything, and whether any of it is satisfying to experience. We'd be very curious to hear whether you've seen Men, and what you made of it. 

Tasha's review of Men at Polygon. Keith's review of Men at The Reveal. Also recommended: Filmspotting analyzes Men and goes deeper into breaking down the Biblical symbolism than we did.

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Comments

jamsheed siyar

Oh man. Not going to get to this for a couple of weeks because of travel plans. But cannot wait to watch the movie and then listen to this.

Dylan Lee

You finally convinced me to join the Patreon! Saw this last weekend solo and it's the kind of movie I have to talk about with someone or hear someone else talk about with how much there is to process. But I loved it!

Elizabeth Kite

I caught this on Friday and really didn't care for it. Very disappointing considering that Ex Machina is one of my all time favorites and Annihilation was so phenomenal. Also love Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear- so all the ingredients sounded great but somehow the final dish was less than the sum of its parts. There was a kernel of a good idea here, and I felt like there were moments that really worked. For example, the vicar scaring off the kid only to show a different, more insidious form of misogyny. (Something Ex Machina did so well!) Ultimately, I'm not sure there was a rich enough center to hold everything together and make it add up to more than "Men, amirite?"

Edward Savoy

I thought this was a great conversation and I don’t fundamentally disagree with anything that was, particularly in regards to the obscurity of the work. However, there’s one thing that I actually did take as being clear that I wanted to call attention to. I took as being clear the fact that what she specifically does with the axe is dismember the phallus of the individual with the visage of her dead husband. I come to this reading because this is foreshadowed by the friend saying that she would come to join Harper and, uh…perform penile surgery with the axe (the actual line was a bit more colorful in fashion you can probably guess). In addition to the typical symbolism that castration has, it also means the line becomes foreshadowing and the act therefore a grim joke. Now, did she do this literally or just metaphorically? No idea! You’d have to be a cut above to answer that.

Jonathan Anderson

When Tasha said "Let us know your theories about Men" at the end, it was all I could do not to scream "NO, DON'T INVITE THAT ON YOURSELVES!".

Tom Speaker

I interpreted the last sequence as being about the various ways men will present themselves to win women's love. The key moment for me was when – I think after the third birth? – Harper turns away, almost like someone would after being approached at a bar. It brought meaning to the rest of the film for me, as if all Rory Kinnear had been trying to do was get her to like him. Reminds me of the confrontation between Harper and James when she asks if he's only threatening to kill himself to win her back, and the way he seems to be reaching for her when he falls from the balcony.