Mandy

Weird. Very. While I liked the colorful hypnotic atmosphere supported by Jóhannsson's unsettling music, With its mysticism, overwrought monologues and dialogue, excessive running time, and the wait for a final showdown that was ultimately the most boring scene of the entire film, I was ultimately disappointed by Mandy. And I hadn't even expected anything from it in the first place. (07/30/2020)

Well, how to approach this? On the one hand, we have impressive formal confidence that warrants praise. All those colour filters, sound deformations and blurry visuals look a bit cheap and become boring after a while, but they do build a sufficiently thick atmosphere to overcome the initial monotonous pace and WTF dialogues. The insane villains felt annoying rather than terrifying and the logic is something nobody thought too much about, but that’s not what this is about; this is a film about Nicolas Cage coming out of a hallucinogenic haze wielding a home-made mace to massacre religious fanatics with a smile on his face, and this is something that’s fits perfectly not only Cage, whose performance is flawless, but also Cosmatos, someone who doesn’t do routine and presents a chase after cult-nuts as an authentic road to hell, and he deserves all my sympathy for that. For the time being, 70%, and I’m keeping the fourth * for next time. (10/29/2018)

Panos Cosmatos finally found a suitable topic for his distinctive and visually extravagant LSD experiments - a lumberjack nightmare on bad drugs with brutally bloody orgies, chainsaws and bikers from hell. Only the hallucinogenic passages and the demonically-psychedelic music of Jóhan Jóhannsson save the first half and its extremely relaxed pace, but then such a sectarian trash metal epic starts that it is difficult not to succumb to it, although resistance to extreme violence is a necessary precondition. Nicolas Cage's crazy performance amounts to a guilty pleasure on a trip. Mandy is a cruel and evil film, but it is equally distinctive. (06/30/2018)

Nicolas Cage is a bit like fire — great when controlled, but disastrous if left unchecked. Luckily, Panos Cosmatos knows how to harness Cage’s unique style, and it really shows in this film. It almost feels like the role was tailor-made for him. Mandy is a niche film, definitely not for the average viewer. Its pacing is unusual and quite drawn out, so you either vibe with its style or find yourself suffering through it. The film’s drug-fueled, transcendent atmosphere is worth mentioning — it's hard to tell what reality the story is set in, but that’s part of its charm. The standout feature, of course, is the one and only Nick Cage. While he's not in the spotlight much during the first half, the second half is all about him, and Cage turns into a total badass, delivering wild, intense scenes and brutal, sharp dialogue. Mandy is an artfully shot grindhouse film with cult potential, aimed at a very specific audience. (07/04/2018)

Oh, no, not this. Again, one of those films that critics praise to the skies but is literally painful for the average viewer. Nicolas Cage is a dead actor for me, this guy won't be in a good movie anymore and he certainly can't act. The strange pink and red filter covering the financial shortcomings was annoying, absolutely nothing happens for an hour, and if by some miracle you are still awake after an hour and not completely disgusted, you won't find much satisfaction in the second one either. I suffered, I went crazy, this is not for me. 35% (09/15/2018)