Panos Cosmatos’s midnight movie starring Nicholas Cage has a delicate relationship at its core, although also features graphic violence, tigers, Cheese-Goblins and exploding heads
Mandy is a heavy metal fever dream.
It is a film which feels so physical and tactile, that even days after seeing it, you still feel enveloped in its mood, in its lurid textures. Director Panos Cosmatos has distilled something ethereal, cosmic and violent onto the screen and the result is an immersive, thrilling cinema experience. I urge all to see it in a theatre wherever you can. But be warned, when Mandy decides to destroy the delicate relationship at its heart, the reality of the film fractures into a psychedelic gore-filled explosion of fantasy, and some scenes are not for the faint-hearted, not by a long shot.
But that explosion of grief and rage would mean nothing if Panos Cosmatos hadn’t spent time exploring the relationship of two vulnerable, quiet people finding a measure of solace in a world which always seems on the verge of some abstract terror. Indeed, it’s a testament to the performances of Nicholas Cage (playing Red) and Andrea Riseborough (as Mandy) that they create a dynamic between them that feels intensely intimate and authentic. When things go wrong for them in the shape of Linus Roache (as quasi-cult leader Jeremiah) you get a visceral sense that their lives are broken beyond repair, and the world that they both inhabit reflects that.
This is not a film to sit down and watch for intricate plot mechanics or surprising narrative twists. It is indeed a throwback, perhaps much like its influences. This is a typical male journey of revenge because of violence against a woman. But for what it’s worth, at least Mandy feels like a real character, a lived in, vulnerable presence whose loss haunts the film. I’m not sure if that excuses the ‘fridging’ (does anything?), but her death shatters the reality of the film (already heading towards fantasy with the biker gang and the summoning horn) in an irreversible fashion. The land Red inhabits is never the same afterwards.
From this point on, the film dives deep into the imagery of heavy metal, psychedelia and 1980s horror. Cosmatos blends it to an intoxicating degree that only increases as Red recovers from the injuries he has suffered at the hands of this cult and seeks retribution. It becomes pure fantasy. Red, armed with a crossbow and an axe from his own forge, decides to journey into the big bad woods with blood and vengeance on his mind, and a biker gang from hell in his sights. Graphic violence, tigers, Cheese-Goblins and exploding heads all follow in short order. It’s wild.
Panos Cosmatos has crafted something which feels like a labour of love, and however demented that love might be, it is an intoxicating dreamscape and one I recommend to any fans of the horror genre.
Mandy has a very limited release on Friday 12 October and will be available on Video On Demand services from 30 October.
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