A woman is stalked in Men, the latest from writer/director Alex Garland.
Harper’s trip was supposed to be a quiet one. She went by herself for a countryside retreat, taking some time to process the death of her ex-husband. Quiet, unfortunately, is not what she found. Someone else was there with her, a man lurking without getting too close. Was he a threat? Was he even real? None of that is clear from this teaser trailer, but given those propulsive, repeated calls, it’s clear that Harper is in for a horrifying trip.
The film sees Garland return to the A24 banner, which launched him into filmmaker fame with the arthouse sci-fi film Ex Machina. He stretched his wings with the glossy sci-fi/horror movie Annihilation and the big tech miniseries Devs, all of which are very in line with what Men seem to be toying with. Grief, otherworldly events, questions of self and sanity, he’s done it all before in thrilling fashion.
The isolated setting and rather simple scenario make this project look much smaller in scale than his recent efforts, again harkening back to what was a star-studded three-hander in Ex Machina. He’s got equally capable performers carrying it again, with most of the weight falling on the skyrocketing Jessie Buckley as the vacationing woman. Rory Kinnear appears to be playing the lurking man, and other than them, there are only two other actors on IMDB with no character names listed. That means this will likely be Buckley’s show with the heady Garland style to back her up. Hardly a paltry offering.
Men is directed by Alex Garland and stars Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. It will be released in the US and the UK on May 20th, 2022. For international release dates, click here.
What do you think is stalking her? Let us know in the comments!
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