X
- 2023
- R
- CAA Media Finance
- 1 h 35 m
- 2023
- R
- CAA Media Finance
- 1 h 35 m
Summary Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) is young and healthy and his girlfriend is pregnant. Yet things do not feel quite right. His job as an Uber driver is neither gratifying nor financially secure. His relationship with his body may also be built on shaky foundations. When he is inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult, the tensions that have b...
Directed By: John Trengove
- 2023
- R
- CAA Media Finance
- 1 h 35 m
- 2023
- R
- CAA Media Finance
- 1 h 35 m
Manodrome
48
2.3
Where to Watch
Summary Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) is young and healthy and his girlfriend is pregnant. Yet things do not feel quite right. His job as an Uber driver is neither gratifying nor financially secure. His relationship with his body may also be built on shaky foundations. When he is inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult, the tensions that have b...
Directed By: John Trengove
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
48
31% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
62% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
48
31% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
62% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
While John Trengrove’s skill is apparent in the slow build of tension, it also stands out in the arguably more impressive way that he holds Ralphie’s view of the world separate from that of the film’s.
It's Eisenberg who finds Ralphie in those narrative spaces, creating a whole and crushingly convincing portrait of a profoundly lost man, and the damage left in his wake.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
2.3
0% Positive
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
67% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
2.3
0% Positive
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
67% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Is there a crisis of toxic masculinity? I'm not sure I would label it as a crisis. I think the problem has always existed, it's just that now it's much more public. The very sexual repression, pressures to provide and the social anxiety that these ''men'' face is something that is not usually addressed on both **** themselves for the fear of being labeled as weak or some **** connotation and the society that does not typically address the issue because the ''male gender'' is not known for doing so. Manodrome seems to want to explore that theme at first and yet goes down the most predictable path, disguising these men's problems with a response that involves violence and aggression because they are unable to communicate in any other way. Jesse Eisenberg performs a sort of variation on his character in The Art of Self-Defense and as an actor he is beginning to typecast himself quite a bit as the dude that directors turn to when choosing a performer who will embody the repressed guy who wants to look tough for the world and yet you can't believe he'll do the part.Even when you know he will eventually explode - which he does, in a scene that you could see coming but is extremely poorly constructed - his thin development offers very little in the way of convincingly selling that twist. The key problem with Manodrome is not that there are going to be people who identify with Eisenberg's character, that's more than expected, the film's problem is that without glorifying those attitudes, its plot resolution only demonstrates that those individuals will seek out people who will reaffirm their frustrations rather than seek out people who will make them confront them and so, in the end, the film says nothing substantial about it. It's its own echo chamber.
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Manodrome is an entertaining take on the toxic masculinity. Jesse Eisenberg alongside Adrien Brody and Odessa Young deliver stellar performances, though, the movie takes so many wild turns by the end, it loses some credibility and could even make you laugh, like it did for **** idea was there, and the direction was also promising. For the first half of the movie, I could feel what Ralphie, the main character, was going through. The frustration was crystal clear, and Jesse fantastically portrayed a person trying to handle it by himself. Yet, at one point, the density of dramatic scenes and explosive, reckless actions taken by him turned out to just be too much.Although I must say, while Manodrome didn't exactly work for me, it kept me engaged until the end, thanks to a stellar mix of great acting, music, and cold, almost raw **** top of that, it's a movie that provoked the most different reactions to it. I experienced it at a movie festival in Wroclaw, and during the whole event, no other film sparked so many different opinions. That is why, even though I felt it was decent personally, I think it should be seen if you have the chance.
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With the help of a hideous haircut, Eisenberg gives a convincing performance as a repressed loser who never discovered who he is and has officially run out of time to start. But Trengrove’s script is as directionless as his protagonist.
Manodrome lacks depth as either social commentary or character study, in large part because of how it positions us in relation to its protagonist's perspective.
Eisenberg impresses in a role which requires him to keep a great deal beneath the surface. But the screenplay locks up some elements of his character rather too tight and, as dramatic motivations for what follows, they are unpersuasive and somewhat cliched.
Crude and sensationalizing, Manodrome is like an amalgam of all the headlines you’ve read about the kinds of men who succumb to warped ideologies.
The cast gives their all, but the film ultimately has nothing to offer.
Some actors will say no to excellent scripts because the films are not so well payed, and then they'll say yes to this.
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Production Company
Capstone Studios,
Felix Culpa,
Liminal Content,
Pulse Films,
Riverside Entertainment
Release Date Nov 10, 2023
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating R
Awards
Berlin International Film Festival
• 2 Nominations
Deauville Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Haifa International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
