When I saw them use the old Universal logo just because I already really liked this movie. Then when they finally presented us with the MANDY title card more than halfway though the thing I liked it even more. Writer-director Panos Cosmatos does a fine impression of David Lynch directing a Clive Barker script – all the leather fetishists, gore, disdain for plot and ambiguously supernatural elements you could possibly want. It takes place in “The Shadow Mountains, 1983 AD”. In Prog Rock font. Everyone’s got these creepy, unreadable shark eyes, except for Nicolas Cage who uses his for unhinged staring into space. I’ve never seen shot transitions like this, so hallucinatory, so nauseating and hypnotic. Cage does laps around the stages of grief in spectacular fashion in his pants. He escapes from barbed wire restraints at one point so the next time they nail him to the floor. It’s brilliantly bonkers. SSP
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About SSP
Sam Sewell-Peterson
I'm not paid to write about film - I do it because I love it. Favourite filmmakers include Bong Joon-ho, Danny Boyle, the Coen Brothers, Nicolas Winding Refn, Clio Barnard, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Verhoeven, Taika Waititi and Edgar Wright. All reviews and articles are original works written and owned by me. They represent one man's opinion, and I'm more than happy to engage in civilised debate if you disagree.
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