Mandy

Mandy (2018) opens in 1983 with a couple living quietly in the woods. A cult notices the woman, and after what follows the man sets out for revenge. The first half is slow and fogbound, the second is a revenge run soaked in red. The score is by Jóhann Jóhannsson, among the last things he made before his death. He died on 9 February 2018 and the film is dedicated to him in the credits. It was shot in Belgium. The forest scenes were filmed in the High Fens, the cult's hideout was an abandoned house near Chaudfontaine, and the final confrontation took place in a quarry outside Bévercé. Nicolas Cage's reaction scene in the bathroom, drinking, became the most discussed moment in the film and reopened the long running argument about his acting. It cost six million dollars and took 1.4 million at the box office. It premiered at Sundance in January 2018 and became a cult film over time. It runs 122 minutes. Good for: visual experiment, extreme genre cinema, and Nicolas Cage. Less good for: the first hour is very slow and many viewers do not last that far. The violence is graphic and the strobing light is heavy. The story is simple; the film is not interested in telling it so much as in atmosphere.