Not All Men, but always men. In her short film, Laura Lee Daly dissects the dynamics of a group of men and women as they piece together the events that transpired at a house party. Kate and Alex have been flirting, or have they? The ambiguity quickly dissolves when Alex is seen leaving an upstairs bedroom, while Kate locks herself in the bathroom. Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that the film is “based on true events”.
Co-written and shot by Christopher Darby, Not All Men tries to probe at the culture that enables predatory behaviour. How sexual abuse gets brushed aside. And why “dude behaviour” continues to be normalised.
Daly, who also plays Kate, stages the men and women in separate rooms. Each group reconstructing the night from their own perspective. It’s uncomfortable, though not unfamiliar, to hear the men defend Alex, framing his actions as excusable drunken missteps. Still, a few voices urge accountability, calling for men to recognize their collective responsibility in preventing this behaviour from continuing.
Meanwhile, the women, gathered on a bed in stark contrast to the men’s stiff circle around a coffee table, share their own stories. It’s not sympathy for Kate alone that unites them, but the recognition that each has lived through something similar. The dialogue here is raw, messy, and deeply familiar. “The law is not on our side,” one of them says, and the line hangs heavy. Women are too used to looking over their shoulder at all times, while the men prefer to opt for the “benefit of the doubt”.
The film also tackles the nuances of consent: saying yes, saying no, saying nothing, not saying yes. Set up like juries, the story’s verdict is clear—rape—but it doesn’t shy away from showing the messy, uncomfortable ways these situations are rationalized, minimized, or outright ignored. The dialogue is well written, but it’s such a pity that the technical aspects of sound, lighting, and editing are poorly executed.
Not All Men adds to the global conversation about the systematic dangers women live with every day. These topics cannot be discussed enough, and the importance of films like this cannot be overstated. Beyond documenting a single incident, it challenges audiences to confront uncomfortable truths about the societal structures that enable abuse.
