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ACTOR
Grant DodwellDon ReidPaul GleesonSteve Rodgers
DIRECTOR
Michael Joy
SYNOPSICS
Men's Group (2008) is a English movie. Michael Joy has directed this movie. Grant Dodwell,Don Reid,Paul Gleeson,Steve Rodgers are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2008. Men's Group (2008) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Six strangers meet up every week to talk, finding they are not alone with their issues. Secrets are revealed as their friendships grow but when tragedy strikes, they realize that it is up to them to take responsibility for their own lives.
Same Actors
Men's Group (2008) Reviews
Incredibly affecting
I'm a 27 year old guy - I just finished watching Men's Group, about a therapy group for middle and older aged men, and it was like a punch in the stomach. No other film I've seen has conveyed to me the intense hurt, anger, aggression, and confusion that many men feel but try to repress. In that sense, I actually found the film really tense and often scary, because I constantly felt like someone was going to break or blow up at any minute. However, it also showed the compassion, empathy, and need for love that were underneath the brittle exteriors of some of the characters. I'm not a particularly emotional person, but my eyes watered for substantial portions of the running time. A movie that so affects me and my view of humanity is really special, and for that reason Men's Group is going into my mental top 10 list. It couldn't have achieved what it did without the genuinely phenomenal acting by everyone involved, and very clever direction and editing. It seemed incredibly real. I can't speak highly enough of this film, it bewilders me that there are only two comments on it so far, even though it's already been on DVD for some time! See it!
Brilliant
I'm actually from England, but live in New Zealand, been here for almost 3 years now. I thought Mens Group was going to be quite boring at the beginning, but I thought everything about this film was done superbly. The acting was fantastic, very realistic and believable. The music was well places in each scene, I couldn't fault it. I'm only 25 but was moved by the whole film. I do have a 16 month old son of my own and see him every day so I don't have the same problem the characters have not being able to see their kids in that sense, but I can definitely relate and understand what they were going through. just a fantastic film. I'm really glad I rented it out. I had looked at the DVD in the shop for a few weeks and thought 'nah' this wont be any good. How wrong I was! Brilliant film.
Fantastic Acting!!!
This film has the best ensemble cast I have seen in living memory. The film itself, and the actors, are so convincing that, in some recent festival screenings, audiences thought it was a very powerful, emotive documentary. Not so, cinema watchers. It is a drama. This is film making at it's peak! We are lead into what appears to be a quite ordinary, not very interesting situation, with characters to suit. A cast of anti-heroes, men driven by various circumstances who have been reluctantly persuaded to try and see the benefit of mutually sharing their experiences. So how are we going to relate to them? As the film unfolds we feel like voyeurs as we pry into their lives. Cannot recommend a film more highly. A blokes' response to chick flicks!
Complex but beautifully drawn
It is what it says it is and doesn't pretend to be anything other. And for that, we are grateful. Don't be misled however, it is also much more. Director Michael Joy brings together a wide group of men to talk about their various issues in a free range, ad lib style and yet the characters find themselves with similar issues, a little too similar to be a co-incidence and one wonders if this isn't reflective of the Director himself. Having said that, it does make for a sense of unity amongst the men, and some cohesion in the piece. The performances are powerful, the emotions genuine, so real in fact, you'll be struggling to separate the men from the actors. It feels so authentic that it's impossible not to be moved. While it may be very much a man's film and men over a particular age, young men and women can also learn a lot from this bunch of blokes. We are more sensitive and complex than we are given credit for. Not all of the character threads are explored and though we don't need all loose ends to be tied up, in fact, it's legitimate to leave something to the imagination, one character is left unexplained and it feels as though something is missing and even a little false. Yet this is nothing compared to the thin, contrived plot lines of Australian dramas over recent years. Once again, it takes an independent film to show how it can be done. The strength of the performances are so gripping, the underlying issues so intricate and so beautifully drawn to the surface, that in the end, you know you've witnessed something very special.
Men's Group Punching Above It's Weight
The Australian Film Institute showed Men's Group to the faithful who troop along, year in year out, to view the year's cinematic harvest and vote for their favourites. The group I hang out with spent the lunch break talking about nothing else than the surprisingly powerful impact of this deceptively simple, small scale film. On paper it seems to be yawn making. Blokes sitting around talking about how bad their lives are. But the clever use director Michael Joy makes of cut-aways to provide the back story, humour to lighten the very intense subject matter and fabulous performances that enoble the suffering souls of the characters, vicariously drags the viewers into their world for 104 minutes. Enter into this cinematic experience and you will share the banality of their lives, the devastating disappointments and the small triumphs of this circle of suffering strangers. There is a very clever scripting device that opens out the story and breaks what could have been a very static viewing experience. It is interesting to speculate on the factors that lead to this break out. Is it the intimation of intimacy arising from having another human applying make-up and body paint as a precursor to primal mens' rites that unlocks long gone memories, that sensitises the participants and leaves them dangerously vulnerable. Is it the cruel taunt by the most tightly wound member of the group that drives another over the edge of the abyss of despair just as they are beginning to come together, empathise with each others' problems, socialise together? Do therapy groups ever achieve anything that sensible social intercourse could deliver? Are one-off abreaction experiences ultimately any more valuable than light relief? Is it the cruelty of womankind that has driven these men to the desperate straits they are navigating their way through? Is this film doing for group therapy what awakened libido did for the doomed hero of American Beauty? They are some of the question this film inveigles into your subconscious waking state for days after you have seen it. Mens' Group punches well above its weight.