Nicolas Cage in Mandy.
There’s nothing quite like the sight of a bearded, blood-splattered Nicolas Cage melting metal, pouring it into a mould and fashioning it into a super-sharp blade, all while the reflection of fire and iron gleams across his sunglasses in the dark of night. Or, maybe there is. Perhaps it’s the sight of Cage plodding to the bathroom wearing nothing but a tiger-fronted long-sleeved shirt with bright white underwear peeking out underneath, then proceeding to bathe both his insides and his body in vodka while emitting a guttural growl of pain.
From a career filled with memorable moments and inimitable performances, spanning everything from the serious to the silly, these two scenes earn their place among Cage’s best – and, in a film similarly brimming with standout images, they rank among Mandy’s highlights as well. In fact, rarely have a movie and its star felt as perfectly matched as this violent tale of abduction, destruction and revenge, and the man tasked with traversing its lurid depths in his distinctively ferocious, unflinchingly intense yet touchingly earnest fashion.
Cage’s Red Miller is a lumberjack in love with the titular store clerk (Andrea Riseborough, The Death of Stalin) and, as long as she’s by his side, blissfully content in their cosy log cabin surroundings circa 1983. Alas, when the Children of the New Dawn drive through Red and Mandy’s patch of the Shadow Mountains, cult leader Jeremiah (Linus Roache, TV’s Homeland) takes an instant shine to the long-locked object of Red’s affection and starts plotting an abduction. Not only do the sect’s unhinged adherents come calling upon the otherwise happy couple, but a menacing posse of demonic bikers as well. As spirited as she is sweet, Mandy is far from a willing disciple – and Red is hardly willing to let the mayhem that follows go unpunished.
Co-writing with first-time scribe Aaron Stewart-Ahn, Beyond the Black Rainbow’s Panos Cosmatos moulds Mandy around a straightforward narrative – a tale that treads the obvious path, but does so with some substantial heft in its backpack. Indeed, much of its weight and depth springs from its performances, particularly from the ever-enthralling Cage. He’s sublimely calm, comfortable and loving against an almost ethereal Riseborough, and then heartbreakingly anxious, angry, pained and persistent as the story plunges into darker territory. More than that, he grounds both his serene and savage modes so deeply in his character’s emotions that, even at his most over-the-top, this isn’t a gloriously comical turn. It’s gloriously complex, giving the actor’s mania meaning as Red copes not with pure vengeance, but with mourning the shattering of his peaceful idyll.
Viewers can relate, for Cosmatos styles his sophomore film in a fitting fashion – the first half seductive in its sensory onslaught; the second ramping up the sound, colour and energy to fever-dream levels. Both demand and receive the utmost attention; however anyone more at home during the former knows exactly how Red feels, and everyone swept away by the latter is given a taste of his all-consuming experience. To assist, cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (Hello Destroyer) and the now-late composer Johann Johansson (Mary Magdalene) ply their talents with committed aplomb, enacting their director’s distinctive vision in every vivid, saturated frame and needling, droning note of music. Like Cage’s Red, they’re bathing in the movie’s wonders, taking the audience with them in the process. And, like the vodka that’s splashed around so memorably, the end result comes with a buzz, bite and kick.
4 stars ★★★★
Mandy
Director: Panos Cosmatos
USA, 2018, 121 mins
Melbourne International Film Festival
2-19 August
http://miff.com.au/
Sydney Underground Film Festival
13-16 September
http://suff.com.au/
General release: 21 September
Distributor: Madman
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