'Mandy' A Review

Mandy is a psychedelic revenge thriller in the Shadow Mountains in 1983. The film opens on logger Red(Nicolas Cage) and his partner Mandy(Andrea Riseborough) in their secluded home. The first half focuses on their relationship, homelife, and dreams both figurative and literal as a sense of foreboding begins to build. When a LSD abusing cult abducts Mandy the situation and reality itself begins to unravel.

Cage gives an ecstatic performance that begins slow, thoughtful and internal then explodes in one of the best scenes of the year, a bathroom breakdown, then goes on to the expressionistic heights he is known for. He is always a master of going back and forth from an empathetic realism to what he has called "American Kabuki" and this provides him the chance to be a loving partner as well as an LSD fueled unhinged terminator. Riseborough and Cage have a casual but magnetic chemistry, they don't share much dialogue but their bond is clear. She balances him well with an ethereal, wraith-like presence that is also strong and assertive. The film breaks in two, the first half being Riseborough's the second Cage's and there is a harmony in it. The supporting cast are all excellent and bizarre especially Olwen Fouéré and Bill Duke who has a delicious cameo.

The cinematography is both innovative given the current cinematic landscape and a nostalgic throwback to 80's schlock and music videos. Neon, monochromatic filters, foggy dream sequences, 2D animation, weird washes and cuts. It's evocative and different and serves to heighten the otherworldly nightmarish story. The tone of the film and the score specifically are metal inspired with an eerie thrumming score that descends into the darkness along with Red.

A surprising, vivid, fresh, strange take on a conventional plotline reinvigorated by two great leads and an injection of dark fantasy.

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