Newish Releases: Mandy (2018); Green Book (2018)

Mandy (2018)

Director: Panos Cosmatos

Whoa. Someone actually managed to cast the off-the-rails, 2010s Nicolas Cage in the perfect film for where he seems to be, career-wise. Mandy is a trippy, wild, phantasmagoric take on 1970s grindhouse cinema, with a slick 1980s shine on it. And I was riveted.

Oddly, it was a bit tough to track down this movie. After hearing significant buzz about it back in September or so, I searched and searched for a theater showing it in the Philadelphia area, to no avail. And so it came and went on the big screen. Then, I had to wait several months before it was available to rent through streaming services, and then only through Microsoft. But when I did fire it up...

I got a tale of Red (Nicolas Cage), a lumberjack who lives with his artist wife Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) in a secluded cabin in the woods. Mandy is an artist and a fan of fantasy novels, and the two have a deep and genuine love for each other. Their bliss is horrifically shattered when a small cult, lead by Jeremiah Sand, kidnaps Mandy to satisfy Sand's self-indulgent, messianic desires. Things go horribly wrong, and Red is sent on a mission of revenge. To gain his vengeance, he cuts a bloody swath through demonic bikers and drugged-out cultists.

This movie is balls-to-the-wall, gonzo crazy and trippy. But it's done with such an amazing sense of cinematic excellence that I was absolutely entranced. In some ways, it can remind one of the hallucinogenic grandeur of the cult classic El Topo, although Mandy has a clearer overall plot. What it shares with that earlier Jodorowsky film is a keen sense of framing, color, and setting. There is a simplistic clarity to the basic story elements which could have had a broad appeal, but the brutal nature of the events depicted puts the emotional tone more in the realm of 1970s grindhouse films, which featured horribly twisted people doing horribly twisted things to each other. Mandy bears more than a few of the hallmarks of those down-and-dirty flicks.

What elevates this movie beyond those filthy '70s shows, which I've never much gotten into, is that director Panos Cosmatos uses cinematic techniques to brilliantly illustrate a man completely and fantastically losing his mind in the most violent of manners. It is set up early in the movie that Red is a recovering addict. Then, there is a point where he falls off the wagon about as hard as a person can, and from that point, we begin to witness what might be an ever-more surreal fevered revenge fantasy. This is all brought home with brilliantly distinct costumes, set pieces, props, and masterful lighting. It's an amazing experience to drink in, if a rather disturbing one.

Obviously, this movie is not for everyone. It is packed with horrifically warped people doing disgusting and grizzly things to others. But if you're like me, and can see the movie as a creative, if violent, flight of fancy, then you may just be as transfixed by this flick as I was.

Green Book (2018)

Director: Peter Farrelly

Note: I saw this movie before its now-controversial selection as the Academy Awards' "Best Picture" winner.

Well-crafted and executed story based on real events from the early 1960s. Though it can be a bit on the nose at times, the overall themes, acting, and craft make this a solid film. Not necessarily an all-time, Oscar-worthy film, but a very solid one, nonetheless.

Based on a true story, the film follows Tony "Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), an Italian-American New Yorker and street-wise bouncer who, when he can't work an angle with his mouth, will effectively work it with his fists. In 1963, Tony Lip accepts a high-paying job driving and protecting Dr. Don Shirley on a music tour through the deep south. Shirley (Mahershala Ali) is African-American, and is a supremely well-educated, intelligent, and cultured genius of music, and his trio is among the most well-regarded in the world. As the racist Tony and aloof Dr. Don spend nearly every waking hour together during the tour, they learn to see things from each others' very different perspective.

At this point, this movie has received probably more criticism that it's deserved. Yes, it is yet another "race relation" film told mostly from the perspective of a white person. And yes, it can sometimes be a bit obvious and even clumsy with its "messages." But there is plenty about this movie that is very well done, and even admirable.

What I appreciated most about the movie is that it utilizes a few new elements and infuses them into the rather well-worn tale of "white person learns to empathize with black people." Unlike most of such tales from the past, Green Book features an uneducated, blue-collar white character having to work with a black person who is vastly more worldly than he will ever be. Dr. Don is immensely poised, articulate, sophisticated, and wealthy in ways that Tony Lip could hardly dream of. The mostly unapologetically racist Tony soon sees Dr. Don's gifts, and he develops more than a little empathy for a man whose gifts and whose struggles as an African-American in the U.S. become clearer as the two men spend so much time on the road together.

The reserved, ultra-intelligent, and sometimes flamboyant
Doctor Don Shirley. It isn't difficult to imagine a better, bolder
film being made more from the perspective lofty musical savant. 

But what, one might wonder, could Dr. Don learn from a New York ruffian-for-hire? Well, this is where the movie starts to get a tad choppy in its themes. While there is some fairly authentic-seeming lessons that a street guy like Tony imparts upon Don, such as introducing him to popular Motown and rhythm and blues music of the early 1960s, there are other nuggets that are almost painful to see. Probably the most cringe-worthy is Tony force-feeding the more aristocratic Don his first ever taste of fried chicken. Having a white man "teach" a black man "the joys of fried chicken" is one of those things that probably looked funnier and more effective on paper than it did on film. There are a few moments such as this, though they are fortunately low in number. And in the end, the film is not one where the two characters have such grand revelations that their entire lives are changes. Ultimately, they change in relatively small but important ways, while remaining themselves for the most part.

A great strength of the movie is is the performances of the two leads, Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. The two men play their extremely opposite roles to perfection, lending more than a little authenticity to the proceedings. They're both such excellent actors that they can sell the comedy just as well as the drama, which elevates the film appreciably.

Both my wife and I had a similar thought about this movie - that it would have been more effective and enlightening to see the tale much more from Doctor Don's perspective than from Tony's. Though we do get a few scenes in which the brilliant musician struggles with being so very isolated, the bulk of the movie's scenes include the more accessibly appealing ruffian Tony. Focusing on the more elusive and mysterious doctor would have challenged us viewers more, but would have offered us something more novel.