The Manipulator

"The Manipulator" is truly one of its kind.Supremely bizarre,surreal and acid inspired horror film set in an abandoned warehouse filled with plastic mannequins,cobwebs and dusty movie props.Mickey Rooney plays bearded B.J Lang,a madman who keeps a young woman played by Luana Anders captive in his building and keeps referring to her as Carlotta,his acting star.She is tied to a wheelchair and begs for food.Rooney torments Carlotta and forces her to act out scenes for his theatre piece."The Manipulator" may come across as obnoxious and boring,but I found it somewhat fascinating in its uncompromising portrayal of insanity.Mickey Rooney is certainly unforgettable as a completely deranged B.J Lang.The shots of mannequins are creepy and there are some brilliant scenes of dementia.6 out of 10 for manipulating of my consciousness.

There's a not insignificant realm of cinema where art unbound roams raging into madness. But less in number are the films that cross into this maelstrom and there not only find meaning but grasp quintessence, and The Manipulator is one of these films. As uncompromising a study of madness as I've ever seen, it tells the story of ageing film-maker BJ Lang and his captive Carlotta who he forces to play Roxanne to his Cyrano in scenes from the Rostand play. The story is barely skeletal, mostly a two handed piece with a short appearance from a wino, its flesh is its dialogue and technique and the two entwine remarkably well, not that you would guess from the average reviewer here, most of whom seem to be hung up on not understanding (nor even attempting to) what they were seeing. Essentially The Manipulator looks at the processes of art in abstraction, removed from their connection to the creation of a cohesive work, and treats them as means of psyche infection, a force that has entirely infested poor BJ Lang, breaking down all the structures that hold him together. In his shadowy and cobwebbed studio he acts the role of director, talks to mannequins as his crew, adopts their voices to talk to himself, plays Cyrano, plays actor, even self aware mad old man. With nothing to hold his notions separate he skips wildly between fiction and reality, artifice and insanity, self knowledge and deceit, even touching on legitimate insights along the way. And in the process slowly but surely a picture of art run to its terrible potential emerges, the manipulations of creating fiction, the manipulations of crafting an actual artwork, these processes of one wielding control over many, we see that complete control, to some the loftiest goal, means the collapse of the individual and rebuilding as collective consciousness, consciousness oh so difficult to hold in any kind of check once developed. It is as you might guess, not exactly an easy film. That it works so well is to a great extent down to Mickey Rooney as BJ Lang, giving an extraordinarily uninhibited performance. Every shade of pathos and mania, even strange grandeur, singing, dancing, physical comedy, there are scarce few other turns in film so free and wild. He is utterly, bizarrely compelling, hateful at times and sympathetic at others, simply superb. Luana Anders does a good job as his foil Carlotta, she mostly has to react, growing steadily more and more desperate and unhinged herself, not quite as showy a turn but still playing very well of Rooney, rather chilling in her plight. Keenan Wynn is good too as a wino, though he has really to do except shifting the plot and sense of reality for a spell. The technique matches the acting in outlandishness, deploying all manner of unbalanced angles, close ups, speedy edits, colored lenses, strobe lighting, hallucinatory sound design, hazy phantasms, all this piled on relentlessly to disturb the viewer as much as the characters on screen. The terrific art direction (by Larry Cohen) goes well with the directorial flourishes too, all manner of mannequins, both whole and in parts alone, free standing or hanging, and an array of beasts as well. And not surprisingly the score is unusual too, ranging from piano and sawing strings to strange noisy burbles. So altogether its a dense film, by the end almost an exhausting one, and most certainly not to all tastes. But for those interested in the intersection of madness and art, of truly bizarre art-house horror or just of unfettered acting exercises this is most certainly a worthy watch. 8/10

Essentially a two-person stage play with the fatally unhinged former make-up man Rooney recreating his favourite motion pictures on an old, abandoned sound stage using abducted actress Anders as his muse. The film conveys her attempts to escape, and Rooney's lunacy as he flits between vague coherency and outright mania. Larry Cohen's impressive set design is eye-catching, although the music tempo is at times so frantic as to become irritating.

I've read a lot of reviews concerning this movie, and the majority seem to charge it with a contempt normally reserved for those films so pathetic, they even fail on cult status. Sure, it's probably a little too avant garde for the average punter (myself included), and yet, it's strangely compelling with a truly maniacal performance by Rooney. If you'd been accustomed to the Mickey Rooney of the 1940's, then you're in for a shock; his turn is quite raw, maybe somewhat self-indulgent (in showcasing his range), but certainly remarkable.

Anders certainly isn't the acting dwarf some have painted, though her dialogue is scarce by comparison, while the once-ubiquitous Keenan Wynn has a brief but memorable cameo, and there are a host of extras that form Rooney's heyday hallucinations (and who look like a theatrical company) - many of them sans costumes in full-frontal glory just to underline the point that Rooney has totally flipped his switch. I almost fell asleep after just ten or so minutes, but persevered and while not a masterpiece, found the overall result intense if at times uneven and probably unfairly maligned as a turkey.

WOW a blast from the past - and a pleasant surprise. I got this gem in the Drive-in 50-pack collection. I remember this one from quite a few years ago. I am glad to have this one in the 50-pack. It's definitely one of the better films in the Drive-in 50-pack.

This is a very bizarre film where Mickey Rooney plays B.J. Lang a psycho that is holding Carlotta hostage in his basement. He is creating a movie in his mind and forces Carlotta to participate. Mr. Lang gives us quite a show while "teaching" Carlotta all about the theater. To add to the weirdness, we have Old Charlie in the basement who is dead.

It's not the greatest horror film but it is one of the better one's from the 1970s and in the Drive-in collection.

6/10

Mickey Rooney lets loose in a strange little film. Rooney plays a deranged makeup man who kidnaps a young woman and then holds her in an old warehouse full of props, forcing her to act in his movie while he drifts in and out of reality.

To say that this two person film is strange is an understatement. Its clear why Rooney agreed to do the film since it lets him do things that he never got to do with Judy Garland or as Andy Hardy. Whats not so clear is why we'd want to watch it since its 90 minutes trapped with a psycho. This isn't to knock Rooney's performance, rather its to praise it since this clearly isn't a guy we want to have over for dinner.

I'm on the fence about this film. I can't really recommend it for any reason other than being able to see Mickey Rooney let go. However if you want to see what else Rooney could do beyond the typical see this movie. Everyone else stay away.