10/10: Mandy

So: I'm all kinds of backed up. Going to Disneyland'll do that to ya I guess. I did watch a couple movies while I was gone, so I'm goin g to be posting catch ups over the next few days. Here's a doozy I watched a few days ago, Mandy:

10/10: ...wut. Never has the word "wut" been more apt. Look, I get it's not a real word. I don't care. "Wut" explains this film to an inordinate degree. Now, I mean "wut" in every sense of the made up word. Like, say, "wut the eff did I just watch," for instance. And I don't even like "wut the eff did I just watch" as a cliched phrase. It's overused to the point of meaninglessness, like "literally" or "hipster." Mandy, though? It puts meaning back into that phrase, because... wut the eff did I just watch?

Well, let's get into the plot, I guess. Or at least I'll make my best attempt to get into the plot, because honestly? Plot takes a backseat here. But more on that later. So essentially all you need to know is that Nicholas Cage lives in the woods with his girlfriend, Mandy. Mandy is walking down the road one day when who should happen to drive by but a cult leader who takes quite a shining to her. He decides he must have her and sends demon bikers to capture her, but after her rejection, kills her. Nicholas Cage is left for dead after watching her die and swears bloody vengeance.

Mandy can perhaps best be explained as this: a blood-soaked, heavy-metal art project. Ever frame is soaked in bright neon, all while an epic metal AF soundtrack plays over it all.  It's in this sense that the revenge story takes a backseat to creating a bizarre dreamscape. Maybe this is the movie that Nick Cage has been waiting for since Raising Arizona: he has close to no lines, just grunting and screaming, which, let's be honest, is Nick Cage's forte. It's pretty damn perfect for him and a fine addition to his freaking out reel which has to be one of the best videos on YouTube. He even has a solid five minute losing-his-mind-in-the-bathroom-in-his-underwear scene which, and I say this without a trace of facetiousness, is truly Oscar worthy. 

It's an understatement to say that Mandy is completely batshit, which is maybe the reason someone could be forgiven for not liking it. It's so batshit, though, that it's just straight up endearing. In it's batshitness (a word I didn't think I'd ever say) Mandy makes an arthouse heavy metal revenge horror masterpiece. That might not sound like something you ever thought you needed in your life, but trust me, you do. You need to see this movie if for no other reason than just to experience it. It's a movie watching experience like none I've ever had.

10/10 (on 10/10 no less)