MINDCAGE

US, 2022, 96 minutes, Colour.

Martin Lawrence, Melissa Roxburgh, John Malkovich, Rob Knepper, Aiden Turner.

Directed by Mauro Borelli.

For audiences who enjoy detective stories, especially in the pursuit of serial killers, Mindcage is an unexpected surprise.

The plot is quite complex. Six years earlier, a number of sex workers have been murdered, an artist using plaster, making them statues, adorning them lavishly, presenting them as angels. Jake, Martin Lawrence, was one of the detectives finding The Artist, but witnessing his partner pouring gasoline over himself and setting himself alight. He is still traumatised.

The film opens with a priest going into a church and discovering a victim, the plaster, the adornment, an angel. Once again Jake is involved in the investigation, working with his superior, Rob Knepper, but a difficult relationship with his partner, Mary. Mary is played with great strength, the main character in the film, by Melissa Roxburgh, a detective with a psychology background, and gradual revelation of a difficult upbringing, an abusive father, her marrying a former priest, her commitment to her work.

The key to the effectiveness of the serial killer is the presence and performance by John Malkovich, one of his most sinister. He is a controller, proud of his artwork and killings, some flashbacks to his childhood explaining why his victims were sex workers, the whole background of his artwork. Mary visits him in prison, his promise of collaboration, his knowing all about her, his background of illness, his seizures.

There are various suspects throughout the film, but a final revelation, twists, psychologically possible, or not, the final confrontation and Mary proving herself finally superior to The Artist.

1. A different serial killer drama? Investigation?
2. The American city, streets, police precincts, churches, prisons and cells, art studios, sinister homes and basements…? Atmosphere? The musical score?
3. The intricacy of the plot, the murders, The Artist, the pursuit, arrested, Jake and the death of his partner, setting himself alight, in prison, his cell, drawing, John Malkovich and his performance, presence, appearance, way of speaking, the doctor supervising him, the death sentence?
4. Jake, as a detective, his manner, with the authorities, with Mary, the tensions, the new murders, Mary as partner, the brutal relationship, discussions? Her volunteering to interview The Artist? Jake not going in, listening outside? His reactions, his story, memories, the investigation, the discussions with Mary?
5. Mary, her back story, her abusive father and burning his hand, his dying, Mary not going to see him, her marriage and relationship to her husband, former priest, the planned trip to Rome at the Vatican, devoted to her work? Psychology background? With Jake, her manner? With Lt Owings, his trust in her, backup? Going to the prison, the encounter with The Artist, the to and fro, her manner, the conditions, his wanting stay of execution, wanting his paints and artwork back? Her granting these? The paintings, the mythology, Samael and Lucifer, the art of Hieronymus Bosch?
6. The new killings, the opening in the church, the priest, the victim adorned as a lavish angel? The further killings, the women as sculptured, embalmed, decorated, angels? The moments of discovering, the shock for those finding the dead women? The backgrounds, sex workers? The kidnapping of the governor? Her being chained in the basement? The issue of the stay of execution?
7. Mary, the further discussions with The Artist, his knowing all about her life, her father in hospital and dying, the abuse in the past, her marrying the former priest, her dreams and anxieties? Issue of belief and disbelief?
8. The buildup, the discovery of the bodies, the chemicals used? The wings and the discovery of the bottle? The missing point of the compass? The later discovering the whole compass?
9. The vagrant and Mary, at the car, home invasion, suspect, death?
10. The Artist, the supervision of the psychiatrist, his phone calls, with Mary, promises, his seizures? And the flashbacks to his story, his art, his mother and sex work, her spurning his art, injuring him, the brain damage, two years in the wheelchair, looking out at the children, his sketching, discovering the art and the mythologies?
11. His giving the address, the discovery of the Lieutenant Governor? His sculpting Mary, her understanding, opening the sculpture, finding the address? Jake, his appearance, The Artist inhabiting him? The confrontation with Mary, her shooting him? The revelation about The Artist and his powers to inhabit other people? Inhabiting Jake, killing and designing the angels through him?
12. Mary, with the Lieutenant, with her husband, the aftermath, the plan to go to Rome? Her father’s funeral and going to see him?
13. The doctor appearing at the cemetery, possessed by The Artist, the turning of the tables, his sucking the end of the pen, Mary putting the poison on it, his death?
14. The ultimate impact of the various twists, art, madness, murder, detection?