Directed by: Panos Cosmatos
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roach, Bill Duke
The Film: Red and his girlfriend Mandy live a quiet and blissful life in the mountains. When a quasi religious cult sets their sights on recruiting Mandy, they make a pact with dark forces that reside deep within the mountains and ultimately end up wreaking havoc on Red and Mandy’s lives. With Red’s psyche shattered and his life in pieces, he embarks on a wave of brutal vengeance.
Mandy was one of those rare occasions where I went into a film completely blind. Having not seen the trailer beforehand, rumblings of the film featuring a bloody-faced Nicolas Cage in all his untethered, crazy-eyed glory was essentially all that I was aware of. That was more than enough incentive for me to catch the last screening at BIFAN.
Alas, I was simply not ready for what I was about to witness.
Trailer or no trailer, it ultimately wouldn’t have mattered. No amount of marketing exposure could have prepared me for the psychotropic experience that is Mandy.
The basic premise of the movie is simple enough: Nicolas Cage plays Red, a lumberjack who lives with the eponymous Mandy (portrayed by English actress Andrea Riseborough) somewhere within the wilderness of the Shadow Mountains. The two lovers enjoy a peaceful, undisturbed existence but things begin to go horribly awry when Mandy catches the eye of Jeremiah (Linus Roach), the leader of a cult called The Children of the New Dawn (or more aptly referred to as “hippie-type Jesus freaks” by Cage’s character). Jeremiah exerts his “right” to fulfill his carnal desires and encroaches on the lives of Red and Mandy in the worst way possible, leaving a devastated Red to plunge down a rage-induced path of vengeance.
Normally, these story elements would probably coalesce to form a rather by-the-numbers revenge thriller. And although the setup is admittedly familiar, the execution is anything but. This film is a sensory experience that relies almost entirely on its visuals to tell the narrative as opposed to exposition-filled dialogue. The director, Panos Cosmatos (whose only other previous work, Beyond the Black Rainbow, I was not familiar with) is so confident in his vision and approach that he comes across as a master of the genre with decades worth of filmography under his belt. There are visual techniques at display here that seem to borrow from or are, at least, reminiscent of other films yet somehow manage to coagulate into something that feels wholly original. Cosmatos’ use of deeply saturated red hues and neon ambience successfully evoke an 80’s Gothic horror vibe while some of its action set pieces seem to draw inspiration from the likes of Army of Darkness.
Sequences involving characters in a drug-induced state are shot in a way that can stimulate the audience into vicariously experiencing a similar high through the characters on screen. Put simply, there are certain scenes that will make you feel like you just dropped an entire sheet of LSD. Visual embellishments with color and lighting are also used to accentuate moments of quiet tenderness. One particular scene that comes to mind takes place towards the beginning of the film in which Red and Mandy are having a whispered conversation about their favorite planets while lying in bed. The use of color and lighting wonderfully frames the characters’ feelings of being isolated within their own little paradise and this mood is further amplified by the late, Johan Johannsson’s atmospheric score. But that is just the tip of the visual iceberg. Indecipherable dream sequences, animated segments that are both perplexing and inspired, diegetic mac ‘n’ cheese commercials featuring goblins, a dying fawn, a random roaring tiger, demonic S&M bikers; it’s quite a lot to process and digest, but for the most part, it works. And when it works, it is bloody glorious.
And of course, the brilliance of this film, is further augmented and anchored by Nicolas Cage’s unhinged performance. As a devoted fan of Nic Cage’s full range of acting prowess (from terrible to great i.e. from Wicker Man to Leaving Las Vegas), his turn in this film has solidified one thing in my mind: uncaged Nicolas Cage is the best Nicolas Cage. Now, that is not to say that he is off-the-wall crazy throughout the whole film. Throughout the first half of the film, he gives quite an understated performance that echoes his character in the 2013 indie film, Joe.
However, once the story reaches its turning point, Cage loses all inhibitions and transforms into another entity entirely, and it is incredible to witness. There is one particular scene in a bathroom where Cage begins to tap into his inner crazy that had me fidgeting while trying to contain my glee. Along with this transition, there is a noticeable shift in tone in the second half of the film. For example, Nic Cage’s character inexplicably welds a giant battle axe that can only described as Thor’s Stormbreaker on steroids to go along with his giant crossbow as he prepares to exact this revenge on the “hippie-type Jesus freaks.” This is just a harbinger of all the campiness that is to come, and although some might find this tonal shift to be jarring, it is undoubtedly intentional and all the more hilarious and effective because the film knows exactly what it is trying to achieve.
Speaking of performances, Andrea Riseborough as Mandy is a revelation. Riseborough exudes a mysterious aura just by simply staring into the camera with her naturally hypnotic eyes which really complements the creepy yet desirable nature of her character as well as making it easy to understand why Red is so drawn to and enamored with her. The main antagonist Jeremiah is deftly portrayed by Linus Roach with just the right amount of vile filthiness but there isn’t much depth or backstory to his character, which seems to be by design. In terms of the rest of The Children of the New Dawn, most of the cultist characters are simply there to act as fodder to Red’s rage quest and they serve their purpose just fine.
The one issue that I have is with the pacing of the film’s first act: it felt a bit too drawn out and takes too long to get going. Don’t get me wrong, I love slow-burn narratives, but due to the film’s minimalistic approach to dialogue and heavy reliance on the aforementioned abstract visuals, there is a hefty portion of the film in which nothing much of any real narrative importance is happening, and I couldn’t help but feel that some of it could have been truncated in favor of more character development for Red and Mandy. It certainly doesn’t derail the movie for me, especially since the second and third acts are so rewarding, but it is a complaint nonetheless.
Additionally, I feel it is necessary to mention the mainstream appeal of this film, or lack thereof. And although this is in no way indicative of my opinion, this film is undeniably a tough sell to a casual moviegoing audience. As much as I loved this film, I’m not quite sure how I would be able to recommend it to the average moviegoer. Mandy is not for the squeamish or the impatient. The violence, though necessary to facilitate the narrative, is definitely excessive at certain points and the film’s preference for visual storytelling will require a lot of DIY interpretation. Those who do not have a predisposition to art-house films and hyper-realistic violence, will undoubtedly be left either scratching their heads in confusion or wincing in disgust.
With that in mind, I’m confident that even the most modest fans of the horror action genre will find something to love about Mandy. And of course, for those who have followed Nicolas Cage’s career and cheered him on through thick and thin, this film is pure gold. Panos Cosmatos has managed to create something that is both oddly familiar and highly experimental; something that is both incomprehensibly weird and utterly enjoyable. This is genre filmmaking in its most heightened state and merely reading a review is tragically insufficient in conveying the experience. Mandy needs to be seen to be understood and most importantly, it provides a platform for Nicolas Cage to do what he does best: act his face off (yes, I really did just make that reference/pun). Say what you will about the man’s current career trajectory, but if he can turn in a performance like this for every five straight-to-DVD, bargain bin turds, I say let the man work. SCORE: 8.5/10
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