Men: Alex Garland Takes a Shot at the Patriarchy
Can’t live with them, can’t live without them?
Between March 2021 and March 2022, 198 women were killed in the UK. Ninety-five percent of the suspects charged were male. In his latest film, Alex Garland explores the horror of misogyny, in a quintessentially English setting. Jessie Buckley plays Harper, a woman who sees the gruesome aftermath of her husband’s suicide after she suggests they divorce. Escaping to a manor house in the countryside, she experiences a sort of purgatory where all of the residents are men and their abusive behaviour escalates from unsettling to threatening and finally, violent.
Are We the Bad Guys? Alex Garland Takes Eco Horror In a New Direction with Annihilation
Those of a certain age might remember Alex Garland from The Beach and 28 Days Later. Since then he’s been on a sci-fi/horror hot streak with Ex Machina, Annihilation and his most recent film ‘Men’.
Despite the star power of Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac and Tessa Thompson, Annihilation was a commercial flop, flying under the radar with a limited release in cinemas. It’s now a cult favourite, with fans attesting that it follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, with echoes of 2001, Blade Runner, Alien and Under the Skin.