Toxic masculinity seems to be the big, socially conscious buzzword that drives many teen films these days. And Here Are the Young Men is no exception. It goes into hyperbole, presenting the worst in adolescent male behavior with pathos and humor. The film begins with Matthew (Dean-Charles Chapman) attending a funeral then backpedals into an emotional roller-coaster of events that occurred in the previous two months.
Set in Dublin in 2003, the film follows three best friends as they leave school to engage in everything from drugs to wanton property destruction. Kearney (Finn Cole) is the alpha male who drives conflicted Matthew and bipolar Rez (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) to the dark side. Matthew’s occasional voice-overs provide a clue into what he considers a journey into manhood should look like. His girlfriend, Jen (Anya Taylor-Joy), tries in vain to steer him in the right direction. But as is often the case in these angry teen films, our protagonist’s compass never seems to point where it should—spinning from childish selfishness to self-pity.
The problem is that masculinity, as presented here, is not so much toxic as it is entirely absent. Underscoring what’s happening to today’s disaffected youth, Eoin C. Macken’s indie is basically teen angst multiplied by teen anger. We’re not quite sure what they’re so angry about. The boys—and they are just boys—represent a frustrated segment of teens who don’t really know what they want and have zero sense of responsibility. They search for something ‘real’ but reality is all around them. They just don’t see it or refuse to accept it.
Raised on a steady diet of video games and drugs that promote violence and antisocial behavior, attempts to square peg these misguided kids into manhood fails on every count. Given bad parenting or the complete lack of it, the pieces just don’t fit. Even after they witness a child’s tragic death, it’s only a brief pause before they start partying again.
The film is beset with cliché’s borrowed from endless films about teens in various stages of arrested development. Loud party scenes, pill-popping, attempted rape, failed suicide, brawling—there’s no shortage of faux machismo. That said, Here Are the Young Men is ambitious to a fault, often biting off more than it can chew. The attempted rape scene lacks introspection and the destruction of property is without any consequence whatsoever. In other words, what’s ‘real’ is never really addressed in an adult way.
This brings us to the impossibly ridiculous ’Big Show,’ which makes little sense and never really connects with what it’s trying to do or that it even belongs in this film. The infantile, smarmy host—with his audience of yellow-shirted clowns—is way over the top and the topics are absurd, annoying, and unfunny. Other than parodying manhood at its worst, the farcical production could have been eliminated from the film entirely.
It takes a bit of time but Matthew eventually sees the light, realizing that Kearney is not the cool guy he thinks he is. It’s something Jen has known all along and it’s the gravitas that Anya Taylor-Joy brings to the role that makes her case against Kearney so compelling. Cole, Dean-Charles, and Walsh-Peelo deliver powerful, jolting performances that draw you in and keep you engaged.
The editing is a bit jumpy and the lighting is moody and dark. The sound editing is uneven, forcing you to boost the volume way up for dialog then dial it way down for the party and nightclub scenes (we get it, nightclubs are loud). Nothing new here in the cinematography, as well: parties, nightclubs, drinking challenges, solemn scenes with clouds speeding by, and youth violence all make you say, been there, done that.
Overall, Here Are the Young Men may leave you wanting more. More of what it means for boys to become responsible, caring men.
Releasing on Digital April 27th
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
