Men

 Men is Alex Garland's new surrealist/psychodrama horror thingamajig. Shouldn't need to say that if you're in the 'keep politics out of my movies!' crowd, you probably want to sit this one out. It's also a proud example of what some horror fans complainingly refer to as 'elevated horror;' If a film being produced by A24 rings warning bells to you, you might also want to stay the hell away.

 Harper is a Londoner fleeing the city for the countryside after an initially unexplained domestic incident with her husband. She's rented a country house for a couple of weeks, and as she starts trying to relax, she's accosted in different ways by a bunch of different Men. All of them wearing Rory Kinnear's slightly altered face as if this were a '90s Eddie Murphy movie.

 Each Men has his own flavor of what kids today would call toxic masculinity, depending to which institution/role they map to. Harper's landlord -a country bumpkin who hilariously channels the same stereotype Alan Partridge plays off of, and is described as a 'very specific type'- treats her like a delicate flower and has no respect for boundaries, the policeman is quietly, judgementally dismissive, the priest feels entitled to her body because he's tempted by her, a kid to her time, etcetera.
 But worst of all is the naked weirdo who first stalks her while she walks in the woods, and then follows her home. He keeps mutating throughout the movie, and is explicitly tied to the green man, a pagan symbol of natural cycles; more grist to build your interpretation(s) out of.

 It doesn't make a lot of sense to dive any more into the plot of the film because that's not really what's important here. There's a progression/escalation of incidents and a complex chain of symbolism and imagery that end up building a consistent picture of how emotional abuse can affect victims even after the abuse itself is safely in the past, but no clear-cut explanation of anything will be forthcoming.

 The film doesn't skimp on the horror front, including some... it doesn't really qualify as body horror, I think, because it happens to the 'monsters' and not anyone you're meant to identify with. But it's definitely body-horror adjacent and it's a gruesome delight to watch. I'd be very surprised if anything tops Men's final sequence this year for intensity and sheer batshit insanity.

 In fact, there are a lot of indelible, very bold images here - some of them audacious enough to the point of being laughable. From a technical standpoint the movie is a marvel, with some truly beautiful cinematography and an expert ratcheting up of tension and a pervading sense of dread. 

 So It works as a horror movie even as it never builds up to a 'proper' resolution. Still, there are a lot of elements that weave together satisfyingly to form a... well, not any sort of traditional narrative, but more of a web of meaning that you can pick ideas out of. Can't say I didn't get frustrated with it at points but I did enjoy it, and the more I think about it the more glad I am I watched it.