Velvet purples and the use of deliberate light and shadows dance across the entirety of Panos Cosmopolis’ Mandy. Bolstered by a transcendent—and batty—performance by Nicolas Cage, and grabbing the aesthetic of a heavy metal music video and setpieces, it is a breath of fresh air in a year comprised of films hellbent on making safer choices.
The use of tone and aesthetics to create a mood, a feel, that throws back to the 80’s time period in which it takes place—-but is more interesting that the nostalgic pandering that properties like Stranger Things capitalize on. Everything in the film—whether it comes to the lighting or the use of color---feels deliberate. The action is slowed down or sped up to attract the viewer to decipher hidden meanings from what’s on screen.
Playfulness with tone throughout is one of the more interesting aspects of the film. There can be a brutal heart-wrenching scenes followed by one of extreme paranoia or Robocop-esque infomercials—-a grindhouse era horror sensibility that can so easily fall off the rails—-but something about it all works and sticks the landing.
The otherworldly, bizarre Nic Cage is channeled completely in this film, but there is also an interesting mix of the more quiet, reserved Nic Cage, showing off the more indie darling Cage we get to see when he’s really passionate about a project. The fusion of the two personalities works because Cosmatos knows when to reign him in and when to let him go wild.
The strange and haunting imagery throughout transitions from plain bizarre to the unexplainable—in a good way. The monsters in this world that Mandy creates—men, paranormal and the in between—culminates in one long acid trip, drawing in the viewer unapologetically. Many rocks are left unturned, forcing the viewer to go along for the ride or get thrown off in the process. The film is a fever dream of heavy metal rock video battle axes, t-shirts and animated segments reminiscent of the Heavy Metal (1981). The film paints a story with the same feeling of listening to metal records and head-banging. While I never gravitated toward the subculture, the imagery is laid on thick that I feel like I have.
Mandy is streaming on Shudder and all platforms, and definitely worth checking out.
(7.9/10)
