MEN : Tuesday 21st June 2022

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'MEN' and my local independent movie theatre this week, and this folk horror film is Written and Directed by Alex Garland whose previous two feature film making credits are 'Ex Machina' in 2014 and 'Annihilation' in 2018, although he has also written the screenplays for Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' and 'Sunshine', plus 'Never Let Me Go' and 'Dredd', with 'The Beach' and 'The Tesseract' movies based on novels written by Garland. This film screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section in May, was released in the US in late May and in the UK in early June, and last week was released in Australia having so far grossed US$9.5M and garnered generally favourable critical reviews. It was also selected as opening film at 26th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea to be screened on July 7th.

Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley), a recent widow, takes a two week break from her haunted life in London in the remote English countryside village of Cotson after the apparent suicide of her husband James (Paapa Essiedu). Seen in flashback throughout the film, it is revealed that Harper, had become tired and overwrought with James' emotional abuse and manipulation. She made her intentions known to divorce him, leading James to threaten her with his suicide. Things boil over between the couple when he eventually strikes her when she continues to reject him. Harper locks James out of their apartment overlooking the River Thames before witnessing him fall from an upstairs balcony to his death and being impaled on a wrought iron fence.

Sometime later, Harper arrives at the house, having made the four hour car journey from London to Cotson, that she is renting, where she is met by its owner Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear). Later that day she goes for a walk in the woods and comes across an old, unused railway tunnel. A figure appears at the end of the tunnel and begins chasing her, but she manages to evade it. Reaching an open field, Harper takes a picture with her phone, inadvertently capturing a naked man standing near an abandoned building. The next day, as Harper is video chatting with her friend Riley (Gayle Rankin), she observes the man in her garden, having followed her from the previous day. Harper calls the Police, and the man is duly arrested, stark naked and determined to be a vagrant probably living in the railway tunnel. 

Afterwards, Harper visits the local fifteenth century church where she meets a young boy (Rory Kinnear) and a vicar (Rory Kinnear) who both share an uncanny likeness to Geoffrey. The boy invites her to play a game of hide and seek, but when she politely declines he calls her a fucking bitch and is promptly asked to leave by the vicar. Sharing a private moment together in reflective conversation, the vicar insinuates Harper is to blame for James' death, asking how she may have provoked him and if she even allowed him to apologise. She stands up now even more distraught and tells the vicar to promptly fuck off as she leaves.

Harper visits the local village pub later that night on Geoffrey's advice. The pub is far from busy, but the customers that are in attendance (all of whom are men) also bear that same uncanny appearance to Geoffrey. Geoffrey is also there, as is the policeman (Rory Kinnear) who arrested the naked intruder (Rory Kinnear). The policeman informs Harper that the man was released as they had no legal grounds to keep him detained as he didn't steal anything, didn't break in, and didn't hurt anyone, much to Harper's chagrin as he stalked her following their encounter in the forest.

Harper contacts Riley about the day's developments, and she agrees to drive over in the morning so Harper can continue her time away. As Harper attempts to send Riley the address, her mobile phone service is repeatedly interrupted. She observes the policeman standing in the back garden under an apple tree but as the security lights flicker on and off, he changes into one of the pub occupants, who then chases her inside the house. Harper defends herself with a kitchen knife before a window is smashed in the kitchen. Geoffrey arrives a short time later and finds that the kitchen window breaking was due to a crow flying into it, which is still alive but with broken wings. He then puts the bird out of its misery by breaking its neck. As Geoffrey goes into the garden to scare away any would-be intruders the security lights flick off and then on again and he is replaced with the naked man, who chases her again. When he tries to reach her through the letter box, Harper stabs him cleanly through the forearm. He manages to pull his arm free, the stuck knife ripping his arm and hand in two in an injury resembling the one received by James during his partial impalement on the wrought iron fence. Both the boy and the vicar appear in the house, each of them now similarly injured. The vicar attempts to rape Harper, but she stabs him in the stomach and leaves the house.

While attempting to get the hell outta Dodge in her car, Harper runs over Geoffrey sending him flying over the bonnet and the roof and landing in a crumpled heap several metres behind. He gets up seemingly unhurt and in a fit of rage he throws Harper out of her car and drives away. Harper, now on foot decides to walk it as headlights are seen approaching at speed. Geoffrey has circled back around, and chases Harper down before crashing the car into a stone wall in front of the house. The naked man, approaches Harper, his ankle now severely broken which also matches James after his death. The naked man gives birth to the young boy, who in turn gives birth to the vicar, who in turn gives birth to Geoffrey, who in turn gives birth finally to James.

Both James and Harper sit on a sofa inside the house, with James still blaming Harper for his death, which she continues to reject. When Harper asks him what he wants from her, James responds that he 'wants her love', which she appears to refuse. The next morning Riley arrives at the house and is revealed to be pregnant. Shocked at the blood trail leading into the house, she notices Harper in the garden sat on some stone steps, alive and smiling.

'Men' won't be for everyone that's for sure, but for me, I found this British horror film wrapped up in the seemingly peaceful and gentile English countryside a refreshing take on the genre that these days seems all to preoccupied with zombie flicks or alien movies. The film is unsettling and hammers home the trials and tribulations that women are confronted with every day by men who have a very different view of their world and clear opinions of their place within it . . . and not in a good way either! Jessie Buckley is on top form as the fractured and haunted Harper, and Rory Kinnear who is playing so out of character, seems to relish in the numerous roles he is given here, and who really shines in all his toxic masculinity. As for Alex Garland, he has crafted a film that is at times bizarre, scary, humorous, emotional and horrific that will divide audiences just as much as it has critics, but will stay with you long after the end credits have rolled, and at least will prompt some interesting post-screening conversations. 

'Men' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 16th June 2022

The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday 8th June and runs through until Sunday 19th June. This years Opening Night Film is 'Halftime' - the American Netflix original documentary Directed by Amanda Micheli and charts the career of the singer, actress, dancer and businesswoman Jennifer Lopez, with a heavy focus on her performance at the Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show in 2019. The Closing Night film is 'Loudmouth' Written and Directed by Josh Alexander that documents the winding road that is American civil rights activist, Baptist Minister, talk show host and politician Al Sharpton's life story. This festival has 110 feature films from 150 filmmakers across forty countries, including eighty-eight World Premier screenings and forty-three shorts in competition from twenty-five countries. Tribeca Enterprises is a multi-platform storytelling company, founded in 2003 by the American Actor, Director and Producer Robert De Niro; the American film Producer Jane Rosenthal and the American real estate investor and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff. It provides artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their work and broadens consumer access to experience storytelling, independent film, and media. 

Tribeca's US Narrative Competition showcases extraordinary World Premieres that will vie for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, and the Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Performance. Those in competition are :-

* 'Allswell' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ben Snyder. World Premiere.

* 'The Drop' from the US and Mexico and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Sarah Adina Smith. World Premiere.

* 'Four Samosas' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ravi Kapoor. World Premiere.

* 'God's Time' from the US and Written and Directed by Daniel Antebi. World Premiere.

* 'Good Girl Jane' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz. World Premiere.

* 'The Integrity of Joseph Chambers' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Robert Machoian. World Premiere.

* 'Next Exit' from the US and Directed and Written by Mali Elfman. World Premiere.

* 'Three Headed Beast' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Fernando Andres. World Premiere.

* 'Wes Schlagenhauf Is Dying' from the US and Co-Written, Directed, Co-Produced and starring Parker Seaman. World Premiere. 

* 'The Year Between' from the US and Written and Directed by Alex Heller. World Premiere. 

The New-York based Festival breaks its geographical boundaries with the International Narrative Competition, welcoming filmmakers from abroad to join a global platform for contemporary world cinema. These films will compete for Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Performance. Those in competition are :-

* 'Blaze' from Australia and Written and Directed by Del Kathryn Barton. World Premier.

* 'January' from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Written and Directed by Viesturs Kairiss. World Premiere.

* 'Karaoke' from Israel and Written and Directed by Moshe Rosenthal. World Premiere.

* 'A Matter Of Trust' from Denmark and Written and Directed by Anette K. Olesen. World Premiere. 

* 'My Love Affair with Marriage' from the US, Latvia and Luxembourg and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Signe Baumane. World Premiere.

* 'Pink Moon' from Italy, Netherlands and Slovenia and Directed by Floor van der Meulen. World Premiere. 

* 'Two Sisters and a Husband' from India and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Shlok Sharma. World Premiere.

* 'The Visitor' from Bolivia and Uruguay and Written and Directed by Martin Boulocq. World Premier.

* 'We Might As Well Be Dead' from Germany ad Romania and Written and Directed by Natalia Sinelnikova. International Premier.

* 'Woman on the Roof' from Poland, France and Sweden and Written and Directed by Anna Jadowska. World Premier.

For the other films in competition, the other strands playing at this years Tribeca Film Festival, plus all the details on how you can be entertained during the festival, you can visit the official website at : https://www.tribecafilm.com/festival

Turning the attention then back to this weeks three new movies coming to an Odeon near you, we kick off with a horror drama about a young woman who goes on a solo holiday to the English countryside following the death of her ex-husband, only to be confronted by various men who all share one thing in common. This is followed by a French film about a middle aged woman who is a sous-chef wanting to open her own restaurant, but when financial difficulties set in she accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants, which at first she hates, then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives. And closing out the week we have an American animated Sci-Fi action adventure film that is an origin story of a much loved test pilot and astronaut from four 'Toy Story' films. 

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'MEN' (Rated MA15+) - is a folk horror film Written and Directed by Alex Garland whose previous two feature film making credits are 'Ex Machina' in 2014 and 'Annihilation' in 2018, although he has also written the screenplays for Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' and 'Sunshine', plus 'Never Let Me Go' and 'Dredd' as well as the two aforementioned films Directed by him, with 'The Beach' and 'The Tesseract' movies based on novels written by Garland. This film was released in the UK in late May and in the US in early June, and this week is released in Australia having so far grossed US$8M and garnered generally favourable critical reviews.

Following a personal tragedy, Harper (Jessie Buckley) retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, to the small village of Colston, hoping to find a place to heal. However, someone or something from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her. What begins as simmering dread soon becomes a fully formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears. Also starring Rory Kinnear as Geoffrey and the various other 'men' that Harper encounters throughout the village, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin and Sonoya Mizuno. 

'THE KITCHEN BRIGADE' (Rated M) - this French comedy offering is Co-Written and Directed by Louis-Julien Petit whose prior Directorial efforts include 'Discount', 'Carole Matthieu' and 'Invisibles'. Here then, Cathy Marie (Audrey Lamy) is a forty-year-old headstrong sous-chef wanting to open a gastronomic restaurant. But of course nothing here goes according to her grand plan. With financial difficulties, Cathy accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants run by Lorenzo (Francois Cluzet). At first she hates the job then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives, while at the same time the children have a thing or two to teach Cathy. 

'LIGHTYEAR' (Rated PG) - is an American computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is a spin-off of the 'Toy Story' film series, serving as an origin story for the fictional test pilot/astronaut character, Buzz Lightyear, who featured in the main films as a toy/action figure. It is Co-Written and Directed by Angus MacLane in his feature film making debut, although he did Co-Direct 2016's 'Finding Dory'. The film tells the story of young astronaut Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans), who, after being marooned on a hostile planet some 4.2 million light years from Earth with his commander and crew, tries to find a way back home through space and time. To make matters worse, Emperor Zurg (James Brolin) arrives with an imposing army of ruthless robots and an agenda that poses a threat to the universe's safety. Also starring the voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn and Isiah Whitlock Jnr. The film is released in the US and here in Australia this week.

With three new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-