Mandy: Nicholas Uncaged – And Answered
By Jakob Johns | Misfit Media Columnist
(Graphic content warning)
There are two lines that, together, sum up Mandy without the use of dripping pink neon. The first is from the villain, an existentially insane cult leader: “You know what Jesus’ big mistake was? He didn’t use a sacrifice.” The second line is from the hero, Red, portrayed by Nicholas Cage: “YOU RIPPED MY SHIRT!?”
There’s an entire episode of Community with an ongoing subplot revolving around a man losing his mind trying to figure out if Nicholas Cage is a good actor or a bad actor, or something in-between. By the end of the story, he’s lost his mind because theoretically there’s no real answer. Nicholas Cage is just a lunatic we love watching. In reality, it’s worth noting that Nicholas Cage just happens to appear in lots of garbage movies – with performances that give no fucks – because he’s in tons of debt. What’s he gonna do, turn down the role of a guy fighting FNAF robots? That’s like me turning down a job at a supermarket; how the fuck else am I gonna make ends meet?
(Mandy, Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
But this brings us back to Mandy – a non-garbage movie. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s pretty damn good. If you’ve ever wanted to see the perfect combination of Nicholas Cage’s madness and a genuine attempt at acting, you’ve come to the right place. One minute, Cage sobs over the embers of someone he couldn’t save; the next, he’s forging a Fortnite axe so that he can hunt leatherbound demons. One minute, he screams and cries in the most visceral bathroom scene ever filmed; the next, he engages in a chainsaw duel.
(Mandy, Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
This film also features the last soundtrack made by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. The film takes heavy metal influence and combines it with dark synth to create a vast range of emotion from pure rage to existential angst. If nothing else about this movie lasts (which is doubtful, thanks to Cage), the soundtrack will.
Mandy blesses us with an answer to Community’s question: is Nicholas Cage a good actor? I feel we already knew the answer, since “good” is subjective anyway, but yes. He’s pretty good when you put him in the right role. If the movie around him is as insane as he is, unwilling to hide from the violence and terror of the cold cosmos that surrounds us all, he’ll nail it.
(Mandy, Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
It’s basically the antichrist to Requiem for a Dream.