Well, I think it finally happened everyone. I’ve seen many a bonkers, psychopathic performance from Nicholas Cage. I’m sure you have too. Here. Are. Some. Examples. However, I thought this one from Bad Lieutenant might have been the craziest performance I would have seen out of him. Well, turns out I was wrong. Mandy is now the top of the Nicholas Cage batsh*t acting awards. Turns out all you needed was Mr. Cage to be hunted by a satanic cult for the best(?) Cage performance to rise from the ashes of his previous, Oscar credible career.
Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) is Red Miller’s (Cage) significant other. The two have a comfortable existence in 1983 California, reading fiction and logging secluded in the woods. That all changes when Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) and his LSD addicted Jesus worshippers abduct Mandy and Red in hopes that Mandy will join their little group. Mandy refuses, leading to dire consequences for her, which actually means dire consequences for everyone, because Red will live up to his name and go on a Rambo like rampage to avenge his lost lover.
“Knock Knock.”
Who’s There?
“Erik Estrada”
Erik Estrada Who?
“Erik Estrada from Chips”
While technically accurate, these are the first words Nicholas Cage says in the movie to Andrea Riseborough, as he attempts to cutely flirt with her. This ridiculous nonsense sets the stage for how weird, crazy and fun Cage is about to get for you for the next 2 hours. We get Cage being accosted by literal demons. There’s a Lord of the Rings like metal forging of a medieval axe. Multiple heads roll into frame and are smoked from (not the first time in a Cage movie). This sounds pretty fun right? Well, that’s like the C+ material compared to the Nicholas Cage triple threat of hall of fame. One scene involves a chainsaw fight, which the movie thinks is the highlight. I personally have that third. 2nd is a scene with Cage, a bottle of vodka, and a Shining-like bathroom where he does something like this for about 5 straight minutes. But the new champion of Nicholas Cage scene chewing is a scene that starts with a demon doing cocaine and watching pornography. That’s the LEAST crazy thing going on by the end of the scene. Only a mad genius like writer/director Panos Cosmatos can channel our deepest, darkest Nicholas Cage based desires and give the audience exactly what they want from a Nicholas Cage movie, and then some.
On top of letting our hero do what he gon’ do, Cosmatos surround Mandy with a trippy, surreal vibe, that feels like an LSD aided journey, throwing some real art into what amounts to inconsequential revenge narrative for a story. Colors are featured very heavily to make scenes pop, with red being the primary one, pun intended. Cosmatos, gives Mandy the look of a B movie, but a trolling one with the talent he displays behind the camera. There’s some truly sinister scenes using strobish lighting showing the Red/Mandy abduction that are as frightening as anything you will ever see, as well as directing his actors to play everything VERY seriously, which makes the cult much scarier with their complete belief. However, Mandy is also quite amusing, knowing the right time to subvert a scene; for example, this movie Cosmatos knowingly undercuts his well conceived drug trip sex offer with a rejection, meaning during a trip one character is complaining and crying while tripping on drugs..clever in principle and super funny execution. And finally, when it’s time to use over the top gore or violence, we get an excessive amount of it, fitting the genre but also pushing the envelope enough to make Mandy’s scenes just a little more memorable. Any movie that has a car driving away from a hell based firestorm that could or could not be real, you know you’ve arrived at something at least strange enough to warrant your interest.
I’ll give this to Nicholas Cage: he sure knows exactly what the audience expects him to do, and he always finds a way to deliver something even crazier than what we’re expecting. Mandy is an all-timer in that regard, giving us a Cage performance so memorable it will erase any concept of who will win best actor this year at the Oscars. I’ll leave you with one last clip of the man, just to baseline you for the true Cage like magic you are about to witness…