The Wonderful Journey Into The World of Mandy

    Lost Without Reason

    What state of mind was I in when I first saw this? I must have been alone during this time, late 2018 into early 2019, and for certain I was on a path of uncertainty. I still travel down this road but with just a little bit more confidence in that I know what I'm doing. At least more so than I did back then. Alone and venturing into what I love most and that is movies and suddenly something unknown catches me by surprise. For the feeling I had when viewing this film was like discovering a brand new world. A world where the line of quality that existed for the revenge film could be raised so high.

pure magic

 

    The revenge genre is plentiful but it is hardly one that requires any resemblance of high quality. The basics of the main character getting double crossed, a close relation killed, or even the goddamn dog getting whacked is enough to drive a movie all the way to finish line. Or even 4 movies.     

    When it comes to recently great revenge films its a short list but also one in which I fear is dated on my mind. Or maybe I'm just tired at the moment. One of the few recent films that sticks out in my mind as having actually pulled off having the genuine weight of revenge be present is that mid to late 2000's film Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. It probably means a lot to me since I had seen it in theaters with some friends and we were all stoked by it. I haven't watched it recently but I still remember enjoying it very much even though usage of that one fucking song is just the worst as well as the clunky story telling of the 2nd child sub story. 

Pretty Good

 Low Expectations Unfounded 

    On this night though, I must admit that expectations were not high that this film was going to be great but it had Nicolas Cage so it couldn't be all bad, right? 

    What came after that opening crawl regarding someone requesting that they be rock and rolled in their death, which was a pretty cool way to start the film, were the opening notes of the King Crimson song Starless and as the camera flew over the trees to show this vast landscape, we then see Nic Cage cutting down trees as a rough and tumble tree logger. The images and music telling this story before a word is even spoken and I become entranced. I digress though as before I go into the nitty gritty of the what the film brought, let me give a quick overview of the plot:

    Red, played by Nicolas Cage, and his girlfriend Mandy, played by Andrea Riseborough, are living life in the remote wilderness of the Shadow Mountains in the year 1983 AD but life is only good for little while as cult arrives, one with possible mystical & magical powers, to ruin the fun. The leader wants to fuck Mandy and after taking the two hostage and failing to win her over goes about in killing her. Red survives the attack and transforms into something otherworldly on his journey of revenge. 

    That's the easy peasy breakdown of someone telling someone else the story of a movie but its not the way to recommend it.

    To do a proper recommendation of this film, I'm going to have to stretch my fingers a bit as what I witnessed when the credits started to roll was something far more beautiful and transcendental than just a revenge movie. I saw a movie where the theme of love is so prevalent throughout the journey of this man seeking revenge. 

    

 The Recommendation

     For starters, there is not a single boring shot in the entire film. No matter if the pace or the actual story of the film is something you don't care for, it must be accepted that there is always something on screen to be aware and look out for. Nothing from this film feels like it came from a director that has had producers breathing down their neck to get the shots they need and not what they want. A total vision is present and the energy of each shot shifts constantly from the insane lighting that makes no logical sense but the emotional plane of existence that the film lives on justifies all of it. None of this though comes to be as powerful as it can be without the music. My god the music.

    The score to this film is just absolutely amazing. It also happens to be the last film score that Johann Johannsson went about in working on and what a haunting melancholic score it is. The range of the tracks stretch through various areas of sound to create this emotional impact for each moment it plays against. From the slow and sensual for the soft moments that will shift suddenly into this world warping industrial landscape that gives certain portions of the film such a grand scope and all of it meshing so beautifully with the psychedelic images.

just the greatest

    All of this coming together to truly put Nicolas Cage's performance on a pedestal. At this point in his career an argument can be made that he isn't doing the jobs that he should be doing. Lackluster roles in lackluster movies with a high point coming every so often like that Paul Schrader film Dog Eat Dog but overall, there is a serious lack of seriousness in the roles that he was playing at the moment. The misses are plenty while the hits are varied but here it feels like he takes a true stand that he still has the juice. 

    This is in no way to diminish the rest of the cast as Linus Roache creates such a fantastic villain as Jeremiah Sand but what Cage does with just his face and sculpting so much pathos in his raw emotion is just mesmerizing. There are two scenes specifically that have stayed with me in the recess of my brain ever since I first watched the film. As well as give me a punch in the gut every single time I give this a watch.

    The first is the scene where he wakes up after the attack of the cult. He rushes to the bathroom and finds his stashed bottle of vodka, him being sober for some time, and starts to just guzzle down the vodka. After the first chug he holds his throat as the burning sensation of the drink is too much and then he starts to scream. He drinks and screams. The screams though are so brutal with all that pain he just suffered. Just a true bare of the soul as he screams and screams before ultimately crying. No music is played as the scene goes and its just one of those scenes that make you say to yourself: Holy Shit.
    The second scene is near the end and is actually his most restrained piece of acting but its so pure. There's this beautiful song from Johann Johannson, I believe its the one I linked earlier in this love letter to this film, that plays as Red remembers the exact moment when he met Mandy.

    The setting looks to be as though he was waiting for a band to play or something and Mandy is staring at him. He takes a hit off a joint and looks up and the look that we see is the hardly ever seen love at first sight look. Everything is in those eyes and face. The vulnerability, the pain, the love, and so much more. It honestly reminded me of Charles Bronson in the greatest film of all time; Once Upon A Time in the West.     On Bronson, just the eyes are needed and I'm certain that if the film had done that shot then they would have achieved that same effect but with the whole visual explosion that happens when it shows Red's face, I'm glad they just kept the shot with his whole face in the frame. 

Powerful Potential 

    Panos Cosmotos, son of George P. Cosmotos who directed such films as the Stallone starring vehicle Cobra and Kurt Russell classic Tombstone, directs this, his 2nd time at bat, and what a visionary to pull off what he did. 

    I had a chance to view his debut film Beyond the Black Rainbow and its easy to see that there is something tangible there but it felt a bit dry. Something along the lines of knowing what he needs to pull off a movie but its a bit cool overall in the execution. Something akin to a Kubrick picture. 

    With this 2nd film though, its amazing how much more confident he is with the material at hand to be able to get this flourishing vision that just made the film rocket into another dimension. I mean the decision to place the camera where he did and to commit to those singular shots with little to no coverage. Its something truly excellent and there is high hopes that the man goes about in directing some more films before the end comes along. 

    I have heard good things from his episode from that Guillermo Del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities TV show but its been a desert since. 

And So It Goes 

    Since first viewing this so many years ago, I have seen the film again and again and I just finished viewing it last night with my girlfriend. She loves the movie and it reminds me of the various times that I have shared this film with people that I love. Friends and relatives. Their reactions also varies from the insanity that the film offers such as decapitations and chainsaw fights but the end result has always been a sense of love for the characters and the journey that occurs with the film. 
    Truly a film with so much but the underlying theme of love is so strong and so vindicated by that last moment that anyone can truly enjoy it. Though the squeamish might have more trouble than others.