Saw it last night at a sold-out show at the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre. Had a blast. Wholly original, hypnotic, brutal, beautiful, trippy, etc, etc, etc... everything you now expect from Panos Cosmatos.

Performances are fantastic. Andrea Riseborough is quickly becoming one of my faves.

See this on the big screen.

if this film were any more metal* they'd have to mine it out of the Earth before each screening.**

*yes it's me, the ultimate authority on what is and isn't metal / the kid who bought Metallica's "Reload" in 7th grade, listened to the first song a few times, and moved on to the dark recesses of emo without ever looking back.

**but seriously MANDY is super metal. delighted it exists. Andrea Riseborough and Nicolas Cage both give performances as good as any i've seen this year.

If this was 80 minutes long it'd be the movie bro catnip you crave: visually completely dazzling, exceptionally violent and unpleasant, frequently hilarious (intentionally or not, depending on your level of ironic detachment), and loaded with mega-Cage. But that extra 40 gives you plenty of time to think about how wickedly, unnecessarily slow, completely corny and affected, and vaguely misogynistic it all is. I'd be lying if I didn't say this was a good time, the Yes album cover demonic hypno-drone is pretty much unimpeachable, but whatever Cosmatos thinks he's up to he could sure stand to lighten the fuck up a little.

95

Lost my spine in the theater.

Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s GHOST RIDER, scored with dronecore stoner metal. Paint this whole movie on the side of a fucking conversion van.

John Wick on acid (at one point literally)

Holy shit. This movie dragged on sooooo fucking hard. I hated it till the last 45 minutes or so. I really feel like the first hour, hour and a half could’ve been cut down to like 30 minutes and it would’ve made it way better. Or if it were entirely about the cheddar goblin.

The movie look and feels like the poster.

Absolut Geisteskrank, fasziniertend und hypnotisierend.
Mandy ist einer der wohl originellsten Filme die ich seit langem gesehen habe und ein Steifen, den man mit keinem anderen Film vergleichen kann.
Es macht nicht immer Klick und man muss sich viel selbst zusammenpuzzlen, aber gepaart mit den besten Szenen des Jahres, einem fantastischen Soundtrack vom leider viel zu früh gestorbenen Meister "Jóhann Jóhannsson" und eine Vision die seines gleichen sucht.

Mandy ist nicht für jedermann, aber ich bin mir sicher, dass ich den Film mit jedem mal schauen immer mehr lieben werde.
Allein Nic' Cage in diesem Film zu sehen ist es schon wert.

"B+" (wird sich noch ändern)

Heavy metal version of Brawl in Cell Block 99

Bleak, grotesque and filled with amazing duels of uberviolence, Mandy is a fantastical horror film with a madhouse Cage performance, an atmospheric score and haunting direction from Panos Cosmatos. The film almost reaches greatness, but its length keeps it from getting there. The story is frenetic and mean, but the runtime is just long enough to keep the film itself from matching pace.

youtu.be/JKqV_ybCS-I

How could the son of the director of The Cassandra Crossing, Escape to Athena and Leviathan make such a boring movie? 1 star for the color magenta, 1/2 star for briefly getting my hopes up with King Crimson during the opening credits.

HInt: if you're going to make a "head" movie, make it straight THEN watch it high.

I think what I liked most the cult leader throwing game and striking out so thoroughly, in a genuinely psychedelia backdrop. Some amazing visuals, and fearless warping of narrative and pace, also way psychedelic. It's also amazing that Nick Cage will still throw down in this way.