Mandy (2018)

The enchanted lives of a couple in a secluded forest are brutally shattered by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, propelling a man into a spiraling, surreal rampage of vengeance.

Review

Nicolas Cage (Drive Angry) and Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion) star as a couple living in the middle of nowhere. When seen by a demented cult leader, played by Linus Roache (Batman Begins) who believes himself to be some sort of sex-Jesus (at least, that's how I saw it), he takes his cult followers (all five of them), seemingly raises some demons, and goes hunting for the titular, Mandy.

Well, sort of. It turns out the 'demons' are bikers on bad acid. But aside from that, yeah. Pretty much. After which Nicolas Cage goes all...well, Nicolas Cage.

Mandy is certainly one of Cage's most divisive films. It's a surreal trip. Not into anything. Just a trip. It's paced utterly bizarrely. Absolutely nothing happens in the first thirty minutes. The final thirty minutes are break neck speed. There are strange animated sections. There are odd directorial choices, including weird filters over many scenes. The font used in the credits is almost unreadable.

It's strangely intriguing, and surprisingly watchable, but at the same time almost nonsensical, as if the writer / director - Panos Cosmatos (Beyond the Black Rainbow) was trying to create something to be studied, rather than enjoyed.

I still don't know what to make of it.