'Mandy' by Panos Cosmatos Review: A drug-fuelled vengeance and transformative journey

It appears that Nicolas Cage is slowly progressing with age, after many -- and let's face it, they are -- bad films throughout his career, he is slowly finding his footing with roles that fit his style and appearance a lot more.

Mandy is one of such films, although we can't act too surprised over the narrative of vengeance and action. We can, however, admire the sheer creativity that has gone into the film, with a perfect blend of visual emotion through colours and cinematography, to downright weirdness on behalf of the performance by Cage himself.

One thing that becomes quite apparent early on is the way the colour red is used throughout the film. Used in a manner to display the drug-ridden highs of a psychotic cult, as well as the bloody violence that ensues and burns within Red Miller (yes, Cage's character is even named after the colour) after the murder of his wife Mandy by the cult.

Driven by incredibly bright, and heavily edited colours, Mandy is purely a film fuelled by revenge; your classic revenge story with narcotics and a cult thrown in. A narrative of one man's journey to avenge the love of his life, pushed forward by nothing but a thirst for revenge -- but also the accidental intake of drugs.

Mandy doesn't take too long to get into the story it wants to tell, which is typically the case for such films. A large portion of the backstory that's essential for the viewer to really connect with Red and Mandy is given within the first scene, as their passionate relationship displays their peaceful nature among the trees and bending roads. They're a simple couple that find solace in being alongside each other, and not much else is needed. From there on, it's clear that Red will fall into a broken state of violence upon the loss of Mandy.

Using a heavy amount of editing and colours, the film manages to hide its smaller budget by throwing many different objects and symmetries on the screen to distract you; something that works very well alongside the narrative, and therefore never actually feels cheap. It simply adds to the mind-fuck high that Red himself is experiencing as he rips through cult members one-by-one.

With its not-so-long screentime, Mandy is a pleasant film that comes and goes, and while it leaves a nice impression, it neither has you wanting less or more. A comment that can't be made about many films today. You're simply content with what you've seen.