MANDY
US, 2018, 121 minutes, Colour.
Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouere, Richard brake, Bill Duke.
Directed by Panos Cosmatos.
Mandy screened at the Sundance Festival in 2018 and almost immediately became a cult film, a cult horror film, a psychedelic horror film, with over 850 blog entries on the IMDb.
A lot of comment has been made about the visual style of the film. Certainly, it is highly stylised and striking, often red pervading (and Nicolas Cage’s character is called Red), but also a pervading black, even in the pupils of the eyes of the various characters. It becomes more psychedelic – creatively so – as the narrative proceeds.
It seems to begin as a contemporary fairytale, a timber worker, Nicholas Cage (Red), returning home to his wife who is an artist, Andrea Riseborough, Mandy, who also sells souvenirs at a local shop. The house, like those in fairytales, is in the forest. They seem to have a loving life, bonding, talking about favourite planets, a happy isolation.
The film changes moods with the arrival of an insanely fanatic religious group, modern in so far as they drive vehicles through the forest, yet overtones of an insane cult, the disciples absolute devotees, in the thrall of the leader, Jeremiah, a rather courageous performance from Linus Roache considered what he is asked to do. They live in their commune. They have a Chapel. Jeremiah sees himself as an absolute religious leader, narcissistic, all his disciples at his beck and call. As they drove in, Jeremiah sees Mandy walking on the road and is determined to have her.
Then the brutality starts, Mandy abducted, tortured and burnt. The range of disciples, a range of men, a young woman, an old woman with overtones of the witch, all participate. Jeremiah’s naked confrontation of Mandy, his wild look, manic utterances are quite disturbing.
And, it is time for revenge, the look of the film becoming ever more surrealistic, stylised sets blended with some scenes of forest and roads, Red to getting his weaponry, getting advice from an old friend (Bill Duke), confronting an armour out in the forest, then absolute revenge, reds, blacks, yellows, as he tracks down each of the members of the cult. These death scenes are particularly brutal, even a chainsaw duel. If not before, then certainly here, the visual presentation of the violence goes beyond what the ordinary audience would want to take.
The film builds up to Red’s return to the Chapel, going through the tunnels, finally confronting Jeremiah who speaks haughty words but is also revealed as a fairly craven coward. And his death is not pleasant, to say the least.
Which leaves close-ups of Red – driving away, some imagined glimpses of Mandy.
The film was particularly successful with horror fest fans – for whom it was intended.
