Mandy

In Hollywood there are certain actors that have made cinematic history for some of their classic performances. It would be very easy just to pick out some of the most well known films, but i choose to talk about one actor that did make history with some really crazy films from the 80´s and the 90´s. One of the most crazy comedies of the 80´s, has to be Raising Arizona from director Joel Coen. The story of robber Herbert McDunnough ( Nicolas Cage ) who steals a baby, because he is sterile and can´t make his wife Edwina McDunnough ( Holly Hunter ) pregnant is such a delightful cult classic. If you love crazy comedies, you need to see Raising Arizona and see a real 80´s classic. What made this comedy so funny, is the insane atmosphere in the Arizona desert, and the odd characters. Legendary actor John Goodman as the bounty hunter Gale Snoats is one of those characters you won´t forget. He really nails it and knows how to put up a performance on a high level of quality. Nicolas Cage continued delivering really good films, and especially in 1990 when he went completely insane in David Lynch cult classic Wild At Heart. Now, to appreciate a film like Wild Heart you have to have a good taste in movies. This is one of the most fascinating movies of the early 90´s, that does not look like anything you have seen before. Nicolas Cage is simply brilliant as the wonderful character Sailor and his lover Lula ( brilliant portrayed by actress Laura Dern ). I must have seen Wild At Heart at least 10 times since the 90´s, and this is still one of my favourite movies from director David Lynch. This film is really violent, funny, dramatic, and filled with crazy scenes, and i love the combination. If you don´t have Wild At Heart in your DVD or Blu Ray collection, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is a film that should be seen by the whole family every Christmas Eve. Leaving Las Vegas is also a masterpiece with Nicolas Cage, directed by Mike Figgis. The alcoholic character Ben Sanderson ( Nicolas Cage ) is a really sad image of how shitty life can be, and when you reach to that point that you might as well kill yourself. Another fantastic performance by Nicolas Cage. But after a lot of good films, Cage started doing a lot of different movie projects. Some of them were ok, while some of them were not good. The 2003 film Matchstick Men is of course a big highlight, but after this things went downhill. How many of you remember the remake of The Wicker Man, or perhaps the 2012 film Stolen with Swedish actress Malin Åkerman ? But then in 2013, a small film called Joe by director David Gordon Green made a big change for Cage´s career ( finally getting great reviews again ). A really strong drama film, with Nicolas Cage doing his best performance for over 10 years. Early this year i started hearing a lot of positive words about Nicolas Cage in a new film called Mandy. And after early reviews on film festivals, i could tell that Many seemed to be something unique. Do we finally have a future Nicolas Cage classic in our hands, or is Mandy a disaster that should be buried with other terrible Cage films ?

The year is 1983 near the Shadow Mountains, Red Miller lives with his girlfriend Mandy Bloom ( Andrea Riseborough ) Red works as a logger, while Mandy has a day job as a cashier at a nearby gas station. One day when Mandy is on her way to work, she passes a van with the deviant hippie cult known as Children Of The New Dawn. Cult leader Jeremiah Sand ( Linus Roache ) is struck by the beauty of Mandy, and orders one of his disciples, Brother Swan ( Ned Dennehy ) to kindnap Mandy. At night, Brother Swan summon the Black Skulls who head out towads the cabin of Red and Mandy. The Black Skulls break into their home, and Red is gagged and tied with barbed wire, as he is forced to watch as Mandy is burned alive. Red Miller survives, but he is determined to revenge the death of Mandy, and destroy both Black Skulls and the cult of Jeremiah Sand.

I had a feeling that Mandy would be an odd experience, and i can tell you that this is film that deserves a lot of respect. Mandy is a movie that does not care about how things are supposed to look like. This is a film that shows many levels of insantiy, and shows a very disturbing world of evil, passion and religion. I would not call this a religious film completely, even if you get a sense that there is some kind of religious cult involved here. Imagine a world made from influences of legendary directors David Lynch and David Cronenberg, and you might understand that Mandy is not for fans of The Princess Diaries with actress Anne Hathaway. Let us be very clear here, that Nicolas Cage does his absolute best performance in Mandy, since the last 20 years. Is it possible ? Yes it is, he proved his professional acting performance in the 2013 film Joe, and he does it even more this time in Mandy. Cage´s character Red Miller is clearly a man with a lot of hate, who sets out to revenge the murder of his girlfriend Mandy Bloom, played by actress Andrea Riseborough. To see Red on a hunt for the hippie cult that took Mandy´s life, have a lot of brutality and darkness along the way. We also get to see some other powerful performances as well, especially from cult leader Jeremiah Sand, played by actor Linus Roache. It feels like Linus have really tried hard to capture the essence of a religious cult leader, and he does this really well on screen. We have to mention that actor Bill Duke ( most remembered for his character Mac Elliot in the 1987 cult classic Predator ) does a nice performance here. You don´t see him for very long, but i really enjoyed seeing him here, capturing the feeling of the 80´s. The cinematography by Benjamin Loeb looks absolutely gorgeous, and capture the right atmosphere of the story. You might think that a revenge story is nothing interesting, but in this case i have to say that Mandy manage to go in a completely different direction than most revenge horror films. Director Panos Cosmatos ( known for his directorial debut film Beyond The Black Rainbow ) have created one of the most powerful odd horror films in many years. Mandy is a pure trip into hell, with a completely different level of insanity that you don´t really get to see often. If you want to experience a film like nothing else this year, you simply have to experience Mandy on Blu Ray, and buy this film. Nicolas Cage is so damn good, i am jumping of joy right now that we finally get to see him deliver really solid acting. I have no problem saying this, Mandy is one of the best films of 2018. Go out and buy the film, and support this wonderful piece of cinematic pleasure.

Rating: DDDD