thread of mandy (2018), melted psychedelic drone directed by panos cosmatos

did not enjoy "beyond the black rainbow", but i was going to take a shot on this

sadly looks like tonight will be the last showing here, in theory i could drive to LA but it's only showing at midnight there. does that mean it's not doing so well?

the original release was one night only, so it's been doing great

Has been brought back to the AFI Silver for at least one more week; have a ticket for tonight.

well i rented it on itunes and - it was great!!

RLJ Entertainment, known for releasing genre movies ("Brawl in Cell Block 99," "Bone Tomahawk") and has handled movies starring Cage in the past ("Rage," "Dog Eat Dog," "Pay the Ghost"), moved forward with the usual game plan for "Mandy."

They released it in 75 theaters its first week, and had Cosmatos, Cage, and costar Linus Roache show up for live Q&As following some special Thursday-night screenings before its opening weekend, the hope being that exposure and the 94% Rotten Tomatoes score the movie has would bring in the audiences that a limited marketing budget a day-and-date movie can't.

And boy did it work.

And then something unusual happened: Instead of people ordering the movie on VOD, they took to social media and demanded a wider release so that "Mandy" could open at a theater near them.

https://www.businessinsider.com/surprise-success-of-nicolas-cage-movie-mandy-causes-shift-in-theater-release-strategy-2018-10

BRISTOL, Tenn. – A man who police say was run over with a lawn mower while trying to kill his son with a chain saw has had to have his leg amputated.

violent incidents that aren't in Mandy

"pls someone let Cosmatos take over on the new Dune movies"

yesss

i think this is my favorite movie of the year. is it insane to hope that it gets oscar consideration? cage, Riseborough, director, cinematographer....all deserve some recognition.

also i like to think of the two blonde cult members as 'slack jawed yokel 1 and slack jawed yokel 2'

"pls someone let Cosmatos take over on the new Dune movies"

yesss

Yeah I can see the result being interesting, but Cosmatos’ style works best on a smaller scale IMO. Plus we already have the Lynch Dune.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calls Mandy 'a hoot, a real old-fashioned good-timey romp! See it with your best gal's ma!'

Kinda feel like there's a stain on my soul now that I can never fully scour away. Fuckin' evil. Deeply admire the commitment to pulling zero punches. Not sure I ever need to see it again. Fairly sure I will nonetheless see it again soon.

(I joked that Cosmatos wanted to drop an isolated slice of cinema verite into the proceedings and asked Cage to go through his usual morning bathroom routine while the cameras rolled.)

Also: looking for recommendations of other films that exude unrelenting cosmic darkness (Possession is as far as I've gotten thus far).

I'd say THE WITCH is pretty good at that

I’ll throw in my usual recommendation of The Lords Of Salem.

I also recommend STARRY EYES.

I must be drawn to cosmic darkness as I've seen all three! It occurred while watching that it reminded me of nothing quite so much as Twin Peaks: The Return.

Introduced my Mandy crew to Outer Space sometime just before we watched the former. You could say it was a day for feel-good cinema, I suppose.

the pacing is certainly TP:Return-esque.

Bits of this kept reminding me of Apocalypse Now. Don't ask me to justify that comparison.

Are you referring to the nightmare quest elements of both movies, or the way Nicolas Cage long ago went Marlon Brando-scale batshit crazy?

starry eyes is imo extremely flawed and very traumatic but a real ride

"A Dark Song" is a good recent bonkers occult horror film. Not sure about "cosmic".

can I just

can

can I

\m/ \m/

can’t stop thinking about cage’s totally scraped-out stare at the end of this film, which might be the peak of his craft for me

Seriously. That shot burned itself onto my retinas.

ah fuck brad, i just read the spoiler about mandy and i havent even seen this...shit

welcome to the spoiler-filled thread about mandy ross

I'm not sure that it's much of a spoiler. It's advertised as a revenge movie.

Yeah, I was trying to explain to someone that even a spoiler-laden description of the basic plot wouldn't really tell you much and certainly wouldn't prepare you for the experience.

yeah it's completely spoiler-proof imho

no one in this thread at least has spoiled the most important part of the movie, which rhymes with “header cobblin’”

lol

Yeah, it's perhaps worth noting that for such an oppressively dark movie, there are more than a few lols to be had.

Also, 'header cobblin' scene was directed by Caspar Kelly (of Too Many Cooks fame)!

Also also, while I thought that scene was hilarious if wildly incongruent at first blush, upon reflection it seems to perfectly reflect the way that even goofy and innocuous stuff can feel absurd and horrifying in the wake of tragedy.

yep kind of a brutal “life goes on” moment for me

"shhrh gobbin..."

I'm probably seeing this again tomorrow. It feels like a movie that may play differently on second viewing.

no one in this thread at least has spoiled the most important part of the movie, which rhymes with “header cobblin’”

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Wednesday, 17 October 2018 16:07 (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes

or idk the tiger roar was maybe the best bit?

the entire movie was an invitation to throw horns

ugh, the nearest theater showing this is a five hour drive and a time zone away, fuck

Well this was quite something.

Like someone reaching into my head and pulling out a load of things I love - Kubrick, Lynch, Park Chan Wook, P.T. Anderson, the Duffer Brothers, Jodorowsky, Alan Moore, Sam Rami, the Wickerman, Werner Herzog, Wheatley/Jump, Gaspar Noë, Troma, horrible Asian gore movies, ridiculous 80s slasher films etc- then mashing them all up with a rusty spoon before shoving them back into my head and stapling my scalp back shut

during the first part I couldn't work out if I plain loved it or whether it was standing on the shoulders of giants. did I like it on its own terms or more because it reminded me of so many other things I already love?

It was particularly easy to ponder this during some of the longer, more drawn-out scenes. No it's not so much a matter of pace exactly - I like the speed at which it unfolded- , but the propensity to linger for a bit too long on less interesting moments made my wonder on occasion.

I'm still not sure what I made of all this but by God did I stop caring by the second half.

Agree that Mandy the character could have been in it longer, or they could have at least put her on the poster - she was excellent whereas Cage is admittedly perfect as this sort of shell of a character

anyway, I was shell-shocked.its been a while since a film has had quite that impact, so hats off

I took the "header cobblin'" bit as a marker of the times, along with the Ronald Reagan soundbite we get early in the movie. (And I would love to unpack THAT, but spoilers?)

the same reagan soundbite appears in black rainbow iirc

both films seem to document a real soul-deadening transition from the ‘70s to the ‘80s

Agree that Mandy the character could have been in it longer, or they could have at least put her on the poster

they did

https://s8.postimg.cc/gcfewvcet/mandyposter.jpg

Took me half a week to go from kind of never wanting to see it again (in the best sense possible) to kind of desperately wanting to see it again (like right now).

xp the poster I saw is just a close up of Cage's face caked in blood

SPOILER, KINDA BUT CAN I JUST

'YoU HavE a DEatH wIsH'
'Yeah but I really don't wanna talk about that'