For all the cinematic trash and B-movie excrement that he's put out for the past decade or so, Nicolas Cage remains an actor capable of mad-passion rage like few of his generation. As Red Miller, in director Panos Cosmatos' religiously psychedelic retribution tale, Cage, his face covered in demon blood, resembles a fallen angel who's out for guts and a couple of heads of a Christian cult members who've burned his girlfriend, Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough, her eyes bulging out of her head like a pair of oversized olives). Needless to say, the carnage and slaughter that follows is a deliciously served cold dish, and the most stylish revenge film since Tarantino's Kill Bill duology.
Cosmatos fashions Mandy with a chilling, surreal look, with many of its scenes resembling a hallucinogenic experience. Mandy is drugged by the Children of the New Dawn, Jeremiah Sand's (Linus Roache) sadistic cult group, and her perception of his self-indulgent speech will especially be recognized by anyone who has ever dabbled with LSD or magic mushrooms. The religious allegory is often present, but so are the kaleidoscopic visuals, which dazzle both the mind and the eye. Mandy may not be a pleasant film to watch, but no one can certainly accuse it of being unambitious, and least of all boring.
A-
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