It takes exactly eight minutes and 26 seconds for 2018 “mystery sci-fi thriller” Mute to feature a strip club and, as readers of this column will know, the use of a strip club in movies is among the laziest, most glaring indicators of modern male gaze cinema. In this case, it is a very early warning of things to come – nauseating misogyny of the highest order, and lazy, lazy writing. In fact, the male gaze here is so lazy that Mute could be accurately described as being the movie version of the infamous cry, “Not all men!”

Mute is directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft: The Beginning), from a screenplay that he co-wrote with...

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