Mandy, an utterly outrageous psychedelic revenge horror thriller starring the incomparable Nicholas Cage, is not a movie you watch. It’s something to which you wholly submit yourself – it’s an experience.
The first act of this movie was pretty rough going – you’re hit with wave after wave of almost unwatchably grainy, 80s style shots, soaked with heavily washed out symbolic colors of bloody crimson, neon magenta, icy blue, and the occasional glowing green. The film is so hyper stylized that it almost becomes just visually exhausting, to say nothing of the fact that you have no idea what’s going on as a viewer for quite a stretch.
Even when the pieces first start to come together, most of the initial screentime is given to the Children of the New Dawn cult members that are so fucking bizarre and creepy that it just gets progressively more uncomfortable to sit through. It’s almost like director Panos Cosmatos wants you to feel like you’re tripping on acid just by watching it (ironically enough, one of the characters does drop LSD via eyeball). Once the film shifts to Cage’s (relatively saner and more sober, though no less bonkers) point of view, it all starts to make more sense, although the tone is already set by then.
Ah yes, Nick Cage. Mandy is almost entirely powered by his feral performance, and he’s as fully unleashed, balls-to-the-wall, hallucinogenic, manic Cage rage as I’ve ever seen in any of his other movies, and that’s saying something. Cage’s Red Miller here makes his turns as Castor Troy or Hi McDunnough seem as stoic as the Thinker. I really wish I could read this script; I imagine it would read something like: “Miller turns, face and hair dripping with blood down to his neck, weapon raised. He notices a pile of cocaine next to the corpse, leans down to take a gigantic, Scarfaced-style whiff of it, and lets out a huge roar.”
There are also just an incredibly long list of memorable scenes, which are for the most part completely over-the-top but they somehow still work. The captivating vodka bathroom scene was easily my favorite of the year, but the chainsaw duel is also an instant classic, and there’s also the most creative and hilarious cigarette lighting scene I’ve seen. This also wins my vote for best fake movie commercial: someone needs to make real cheddar goblins stat.
I’ve intentionally left out specific plot details here to keep this completely spoiler-free, but in any case, the story isn’t what you come to see. It’s ostensibly about a man who seeks revenge for his wife (John Wick on drugs?), but at its core it’s really a trippy, ultraviolent, fantastical, heavy metal cinematic accomplishment. Mandy isn’t for everybody but it doesn’t try to be. It’s a delightfully and unmercifully kitschy, total bloody mess – in the very best possible way.
Stray thoughts:
- One of the best quotes of the year: “I made it myself. It cuts through bone like a fat kid through cake.”
- Long live Cheddar Goblin! Check out the twitter handle here.
- Due credit to Linus Roache and Andrea Riseborough, who absolutely slay it as well. Just stay out of my nightmares please.
- One interesting observation – there are also some serious Christlike symbolism going on with the Stigmata (nail through Red Miller’s hand and piercing his side as he’s tied up with barbed wire).
- As silly as the premise is and as outlandish as the performances are, there’s some real substance and poignancy to the film too. The last scene turns a previous throwaway funny one-liner into a meaningful sentiment.
