Nicholas Cage has seen his fortunes and career careen from
the utmost high to the lowest of lows. At one time he was considered the
premiere actor in the world, won an Oscar and a Golden Globe and was on the
covers of numerous magazines. Some erratic behavior, living beyond his means
and trouble with the IRS resulted in his taking on numerous roles to pay off
his debts. With more and more of these roles he seemed to get fewer and fewer
of those that would allow him to reach the heights he once roamed. But among
those numerous films there were still some gems, movies that continued to
display his abilities. I’m not sure if this one falls into that category but I
wouldn’t place it among terrible films he’s been making.
MANDY takes place in 1988. Cage is Red Miller, a lumberjack
who lives in a secluded forest home with the love of his life Mandy Bloom
(Andrea Riseborough). Mandy is one of those ethereal beauties, not quite lovely
in the standard sense but possessing her own look that is enchanting. Staying
at home, working in a small local store, spending her days drawing and reading,
she is the most harmless person you could meet.
But walking home one day she’s passed by a van containing a
cult leader named Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) and his followers. Jeremiah is
entranced by her and later that night mulls over this with two of his
followers. He send out his right hand man Brother Swan (Ned Dennehy) to summon
the Black Skulls, a group of bikers they use for dirty work, to kidnap Mandy
and bring her to him.
The Black Skulls are an unusual gang made up of miscreants
who have abused the drugs provided to them by the Chemist, turning them into
marauding instillers of pain with little concern for their own safety. Along
with Brother Swan the capture Mandy and Red, tying Red to a tree with what
appears to be wire. Jeremiah drugs Mandy with the LSD his group uses and
preaches to her his mystic philosophy of being blessed with all things by a
drug fueled God. When she begins laughing at him he flies into a rage.
The enraged Jeremiah stabs Red still tied to the tree, hangs
Mandy up in a sleeping bag nearby and lights her on fire while Red watches
helplessly before leaving with his followers. Red later escapes his bonds,
visits an old friend where he reclaims a crossbow he calls “the reaper”,
constructs a battle axe and sets out to claim revenge on the Black Skulls and
Jeremiah and his followers.
Don’t get me wrong here as standard a revenge movie as this
may sound it is far from it. Director/writer Panos Cosmatos has concocted a
visually arresting movie that feels like you’re watching a revenge film through
drug fueled eyes from the opening moments through to the very end. He uses a
stylistic approach to the film with various scenes shot in bright colored
lights making it seem surreal and far from real while the violence that takes
place is as real as one will find in a movie. This combination of art film
esthetics and brutal post-apocalyptic styled brutality is an odd mix and yet
seems to work well here. This is not a movie where you are likely to forget the
visual appearance of the film.
The film is incredibly slow to build steam and that may turn
off a number of viewers. But if you can make it past the first half of the film
(yes it actually takes that long) then the payoff for fans of violent revenge
films will be paid off. That lengthy first half is done so to establish the
difference between the two worlds, that of Mandy and Red in peaceful bliss in
the mountains and the acid fueled carnage let lose by Jeremiah in his quest for
mysticism. It’s unlike most movies seen today but works in its own way.
Cage is working at his peak here, subtle when called for a
full on rage when his character lets lose near the end. To be able to carry off
both extremes in the same movie is an achievement. Riseborough carries off the
role of Mandy perfectly offering an innocence to the character placed in harm’s
way. And Roache comes off as incredibly creepy, a cult leader who can spin a
few words around his flock and have them do his bidding.
After all is said and done I’m still not sure if I enjoyed
this movie or not. I honestly thought it could be trimmed down some from its 2
hour running time. Cosmatos has offered something different than I’ve ever seen
before and I enjoyed parts and was bored by others. My recommendation is that
if brutal violence is something you avoid steer clear. If you like Cage and
great performances you may want to watch this. And if you like watching movies
that attempt to do something other than the standard fare put out by Hollywood
then by all means give it a watch. Odds are once you do it will be a movie you
talk about for some time.
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