Soaked in a pool of 80's atmospheric synth, Panos Cosmatos's Mandy is an awe-inspired genre bending horror that's not for the faint of heart. With it's over the top performance from Nicholas Cage, and it's unique directing style, it's easy to see why this film has gotten such a cult following in the festival circuit already. Mandy, is an intricate simple film, that relies more on aesthetic than an actual plot. Although, there is a semi-decent revenge plot in the mix, the film took a much more intriguing direction to it's material in a way that occasionally worked successfully.
Mandy is a film that's void of purpose. There isn't a single moment in the film, where we should care about the characters. However, this was never Panos's direction in the first place. You see, Mandy is an experimental film more than anything else. Similar to Nicholas Winding Refn's Divisive 2013 flick "Only God Forgives", both films used extreme usages of lighting and production design to tell a story. While Only God Forgives fails in developing tension, there's something so refreshing in Cosmato's direction, that makes Mandy special. The extreme close ups into the character's eyes and expressions, the brutal over the top violence, and the eargasmic score composed by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, are all factors that make Mandy a cinematic treasure. It's rare nowadays to see a film that takes so many interesting risks.
The only downside of Mandy is it's self. It's unfortunate to say, that although Mandy is a rare feat in modern cinema, my main problem was due to how full of itself the film was. It lacked self-awareness in several scenes. to the point where the whole product felt like a pretentious passion project.
Don't threat however. Mandy is still filled with great concepts here and there. It just needs a bit more work for it to be called great. I had a lot of fun with this film. It's a unique joyride of sorts that experiments with it's genre and aesthetic, which eventually goes a bit overboard. Plenty will enjoy this film, and as for now, I'm pleased with the final product.
