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I have not seen Mandy.
I'm not totally sure why. Some of it is because of what Captain Terror said about Nick Cage.
Some of it is because I really haven't been in the mood for ultra-grim in a long time.
And a little bit of it is because of Beyond The Black Rainbow.
BtBR was supposed to be my ultimate cinematic porn. I mean, the trailer was, for me, the trailer for the best movie ever made. Absolutely reaching into Wooley's brain and making the ultimate cinematic version of what was found there.
So I put off seeing it for like 5 years, as one does.
Because a movie with a trailer that good going virtually unseen and unreported (7 or 8 years ago I could hardly find anyone, even on the internet, who had seen it) is not a good sign. If it had delivered on all that promise, word would have gotten out. It didn't.
So I kept it as this impossibly good movie I might never see.
And, of course, when I finally caved and watched it, it was disappointing. Which is different from "I was disappointed". This had nothing to do with my expectations beyond me expecting it to be a good movie all the way to the end. But for all Cosmatos' obvious talent and all the beautiful imagery and sound and the wonderful, enigmatic premise of his film, he could not deliver a third act that could support the weight of it. Or that was actually very rewarding at all. Really, it began its narrative stumble in the second act but didn't recover in the third and ended up just being a letdown on its own terms. The story just wasn't as good as the idea of the story.
So, it's a film I would give at least a 9/10 for visuals and sound and probably something like an 8 for the setup. But I don't think I can go higher than 5 (and really it feels like it should be 4) for the payoff. Not that it doesn't have a payoff, it absolutely does, it's just not a good one.
So, that took some of the shine off Cosmatos' apple as well as the Nick Cagery and the ultra-grim.
So I never saw Mandy.