![]() ![]() In this world, there is nothing more real than pain”. Jordan Peterson says of myth and fantasy, “The Mythological landscape is the landscape of human experience. Mandy’s bloody and bombastic midnight-movie aesthetic might make it appear to be a superficial love letter to cult movies of the past, but I argue that it is a masterclass in symbolism an exploration of the pain of the subjective human experience in a powerful poetic fashion. Cosmatos filters this familiar narrative through a psychotronic blend of dark fantasy, 80’s horror, and 70’s surrealism. Mandy follows a home invasion/revenge plot structure that we have seen many times before in films like Death Wish, Rolling Thunder, and others: a parable for the sacredness of the loved ones in your life and the importance of valuing them above all else. Rather than creating a more literal and grounded exploration of loss, Cosmatos instead crafts a bold and shocking mythical world populated by demon bikers, chainsaw wielding cultists, mind-melting drugs, and strange magical artifacts. In several interviews Cosmatos describes how creating Mandy and his previous film Beyond the Black Rainbow were ways for him to work through the feelings of rage and helplessness he experienced after losing his parents. Sitting in a darkened theater and diving into this hallucinatory experience, a strange kind of connective magic forms between director Panos Cosmatos, star Nicolas Cage, Cage’s character Red, and the film viewer. This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.Ĭhainsaw Shaman: The Mythic Symbolism of Mandy Mandy is a beautifully, intensely, ferociously *human* film.
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