Mandy, screening in the Midnight program at Sundance, “is a midnight-movie festival unto itself,” declares A. A. Dowd at the A.V. Club: “over two gonzo hours, it combines giallo, Clive Barker, Death Wish, prog rock, heavy metal, Heavy Metal, Guy Maddin, Mad Max, the dueling-chainsaw climax of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Nicolas Roeg, and Nicolas Cage at his most bugging-out unhinged. Were scientists to engineer an uncut, 100-proof cult sensation, it would probably look, sound, and kick like this. Of course, like a lot of synthetic drugs, Mandy could also cause its fair share of overdoses, at least for those with a less-than sky-high tolerance for nonstop ‘trippy’ lunacy.”
“Panos Cosmatos’s 2010 debut feature Beyond the Black Rainbow was the kind of movie that divides genre fans into two camps, the enraptured and the infuriated,” writes Dennis Harvey for Variety. “Visually striking but awfully murky in the realms of plot and meaning, it signaled the arrival of a talent that might prove formidable, or might turn out to be all style and no substance. Fortunately, his followup Mandy maintains all of Rainbow’s aesthetic fascination while considerably stepping up the pace and narrative coherency.”
Cosmatos “shows an impressive expansion of scope while still retaining a hazy psychedelic palette, but most compelling is his union with the perfect actor to lead this psychotic vision: Nicolas Cage.” Jordan Raup at the Film Stage: “Working as a lumberjack in what looks like the Pacific Northwest, but is labeled as the otherworldly location of The Shadow Mountains, Cage’s Red Miller lives a humble life, enjoying his intimate relationship with Mandy (Andrew Riseborough). . . . Something lurks in the darkness of the woods, and after talking a walk amongst the blood-red treeline, Mandy is acquainted with the gnarly-looking cult named Children of the New Dawn. Their leader takes a liking to Mandy and soon she’s captured by what can only be described as S&M fiends-meet-death metal band from hell. While we won’t spoil her fate, let’s just say the catalyst for Cage’s path of blood-thirsty revenge is more warranted than any film of its ilk in recent memory.”
“Fans of Cage’s recent spate of grindhouse-grade performances will find his most delightfully unhinged turn since Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, though the screenplay (credited to Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn) falls short of giving the character much depth,” finds IndieWire’s Eric Kohn.
“Under miasmic layers of 16 mm and 35 mm, the film plays out like a fever dream one might experience after passing out in an all-night grindhouse on the Deuce,” writes Noel Lawrence at ScreenAnarchy. “Its rich phantasmagoria of saturated colors, lens flares, and intricate lighting strategies recall the imagery of Henry-George Clouzot's Inferno. Heavy Metal also figures prominently in several animated sequences that would do Moebius proud. And the ominous synth-driven prog-rock score from Johan Johansson makes for the perfect retro soundtrack.”
“One doesn’t often get to make a flattering comparison to Bergman’s Persona, but here we are,” writes Scott Nye at CriterionCast. “Riseborough, playing a character under heavy sedation just barely able to make her will shine through, will go largely unheralded against Cage’s more outlandish performance, but her steady, no bullshit energy is captivating.”
“As if its sole goal was to take the heavyweight title of Nicolas Cage’s Craziest Movie Ever, Mandy exhibits what Shakespeare called ‘vaulting ambition’ in producing the nuttiest ways for Cage to get into one phantasmagorical showdown after the next,” writes Nick Allen at RogerEbert.com.
For Deadline, Joe Utichi talks with Riseborough about the four movies she’s in screening at Sundance this year, and Variety’s Ramin Setoodeh interviews Cage.
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