“Mandy may just be the most unique, visceral, insane, fever dream I’ve ever seen”
Release Date: September 14th, 2018
Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller
Length: 2H 1M
MPAA: 18A
It’s not everyday a movie comes along and changes your whole perspective on how movies are made and their value. Mandy is one of those such films. The trailer was super intriguing, and being introduced to this director last year by my cousin Thomas who recommended I see Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010), I knew I had to check it out. Panos Cosmatos makes really really bizarre films, which is no easy feat to accomplish, but the visual colour palette and the cinematography is worth the price of admission alone.
This is a difficult film to really review, as this is definitely not a film for everyone, its hard to recommend to those who don’t know what they’re getting into. You’ve never seen anything like it. This review will be really quick as this is really difficult to review, and is full of people I’m not familiar with.
Mandy is a Action, Horror and Thriller film about the enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiralling, surreal rampage of vengeance. What happens in this movie is beyond anything I’ve seen before, very unique, but a complete and utter fever dream.
Mandy is directed by Panos Cosmatos. His only other film is Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010), which is definitely something I need to revisit, I really enjoyed the visuals, but I wasn’t invested in what was going on enough. Mandy on the other hand, there was something about it that just sucked me in, which is saying something, as I watched it on demand off iTunes, as at the time it wasn’t playing in Halifax. This movie was INSANE, and unlike anything I’ve seen in my 27 years of life. This film was visually stunning, and the cinematography was SO GOOD, but it was dirty. This film goes places, and not normal places. This is very much Cosmatos style, extremely unconventional.
Mandy stars Nicholas Cage as Red Miller. Nicholas Cage’s filmography consists of The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000), Adaptation. (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lord Of War (2005), Kick-Ass (2010), and Snowden (2016). Nicholas Cage is a very hit or miss actor, the very straight edge acting he does really doesn’t fit his style of acting. But the directors who can really utilize Nicholas Cage for his insanity and his escalating from a very normal reaction to extremely over the top reaction are the roles that I like (but The Rock is still a damn good movie, I don’t care what anyone says).
Mandy is worth the watch on the visuals alone, and the cinematography. The colour palette is dark, very very dark, but there are instances where reds and purples are really enhance the aesthetic. There are things that are in this movie that I haven’t seen in anything else.
Mandy isn’t so much a movie, it doesn’t fall between conventional means of movie making. Theres opening credits, but we don’t get a title card until literally an hour or an hour and ten minutes into the film. This movie feels like two movies in one, theres two very different stories in one, the first part leads up to the second.
My only gripe against this movie was the pacing, I felt like some scenes when I first watched it that I didn’t feel was necessary for the story, and could’ve trimmed the fat of the film, but after going to the theatre and being completely invested in everything that was going on, I really enjoyed the film.
I wish I reviewed this movie earlier, as this was definitely an experience in theatres if you could go see it on a big screen. Also it was worth it to hear the last scored film by Johann Johannsson before his tragic death last year. But you can rent this movie on Itunes, and from what I saw online Shudder the streaming service has exclusive streaming rights as of its home video release on October 30th.
I would give Mandy a 4.5/5.
If you’re a fan of unconventional films, with unique colour palettes this is for you. If you want to watch something you’ve never seen before, this is for you. This film isn’t for everyone, so I wont outright recommend it, but if you watch the trailer and you think this is for you, give it a go. Message me after, we’ll discuss it.
Until next time,
-Andrew