Finch has a knack for making big stories small, but not so delicate

Verda 2022-04-19 09:02:22

As a director who has entered the film industry from advertising, David Fincher is undoubtedly standing opposite Ridley Scott. It's not purely because the latter is the only N-generation veteran of Hollywood epic movies, but Finch is more than obsessive-compulsive-like exquisite, in fact, there is a kind of film that can make any subject matter " The ability to be small", aesthetic, or impulsive. I'm not here to summarize his career, and I don't want to recall that "Alien", which Fincher did not admit to be his own work, was different from the style of Lei Gong's first work. Anyway, "Fight Club" was originally a story like "V for Vendetta", but in the end it only turned into a mental illness. And a subject like "Mank", if replaced by a general director, will definitely become a "Great Gatsby"-like spectacle, and Finch handles it more than Woody Allen's "Midnight" "Paris" is even more narrow, basically focusing on the performance of a screenwriter. The screenwriter's social activities are extremely limited, and the screenwriter in the film still has a broken leg, which is similar to the protagonist being a high-level paraplegic. difference. No matter how much Finch was influenced by his father's script in this movie, I feel that the American drama "Mindhunter" may have had a greater influence on Finch himself in recent years. It and "Mank" should both be works that I watch repeatedly and try to get close, but I dare not make sure that I will fall in love with these two one day, because the amount of information is really "dizzying". Moreover, these faithfully recorded information are not attached or parasitic on the plot, but directly crawled into the dialogue. This is actually like reading a collection of letters of one or more historical figures. Anecdotes and whispers that are inhumane to outsiders are contained and condensed together. You can say that it is a very precious bottle of old wine, but I hope it can maintain a keen appreciation long enough before getting drunk. power, not just a faithful record of ecstasy and hangover states.

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Extended Reading
  • Martine 2022-01-03 08:01:40

    [B] Literally belongs to Vinci's "Hollywood Past", more accurately, it belongs to Vinci's father. In the two-line simultaneous narrative mode, Finch has achieved the ultimate "sense of form" of the film itself: directly use "flashback shots" to straighten out the timeline subtitle performance; fade-in and fade-out transitions always use fixed-point light sources The hotel is waiting for the results of the voting as a connection; a period of high-profile use of expressionist blessing montages; and old film patterns that have appeared multiple times (almost in the same position on the screen and repeated in the same shape). Using modern technology to achieve retro shooting techniques, used to approach that era, the thinking and execution are impeccable. But at the text level, only the stacking of events and scenes is left. The processing of information is crude "addition" rather than "multiplication", recall? roaming? Or is it a combination of political background and Hollywood? The final effect can only be called the "four dissimilarity". In the process of paying tribute to "Citizen Kane", did Vinci really lose its core?

  • Melvin 2022-04-20 09:01:59

    A super boring movie. I wanted to confront and exchange texts with Citizen Kane, but I failed. Formally, "Citizen Kane" guides the audience to piece together the truth, and "Mank" throws the audience into the abyss of the labyrinth. In terms of content, "Citizen Kane" changes postures to make people climax, "Mank" slaps people from head to toe, not a single hole is found, and finally a drop is squeezed out of the shriveled core, but there is fluid and no sperm. .

Mank quotes

  • [a drunken Herman Mankiewicz sits at the corner of a large dinner table at an elaborate costume party, hosted by William Randolph Hearst and Louis B. Mayer. Instead of tinking on a glass to get the guests' attention, he slashes his glass with a knife. Gasps fill the room as he rises from his seat]

    Herman Mankiewicz: I've got a great idea for a picture, Louis. A picture I just know you're gonna love. It's a modern day version of Quixote!

    [Mank realizes his voice echoes through the room, but he continues, circling the table full of silent guests]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Now I know none of you read, but you know what it's about. A deluded old nobleman, who tilts at windmills. So how might we update this story?

    Butler: [whispers to Hearst] Do you want me to get someone?

    William Randolph Hearst: No.

    Herman Mankiewicz: How about we make our Quixote... a newspaperman? Who else could make a living tilting at windmills? But that's not enough... no, he wants more than readership. He wants more than adulation, he wants love. So, he runs for public office, and because he's notably rich, he wins... no, w-w-w-wait a minute. Notably rich and powerful, can't win over an audience unless notably rich and powerful sees the error of his ways in the final reel. Notably rich and powerful and making no goddamn excuses for it is only admirable in real life. Isn't that right, Louis?

    [Mayer glares at Mank as he drunkenly attempts to light his cigarette with the massive fireplace at the end of the room, unsuccessfully. Marion Davies takes a swig of her drink]

    Herman Mankiewicz: So what do we do? Anybody? We give him ideals! Ideals that any dirt-poor, depression-weary audience can identify with. Our Quixote is against crooked trusts, he's for the eight-hour workday, fair income tax, better schools. Why, he's even for government ownership of railroads. And you know what we call those people?

    Male Guest: Communists!

    Female Guest: Anarchists!

    Herman Mankiewicz: No, our Quixote, he's a two-fisted muckraker. In fact, someone predicts that he will one day win the presidency and bring about, get this...

    [laughing uncontrollably]

    Herman Mankiewicz: ... a socialist revolution!

    Louis B. Mayer: What a bunch of bullshit.

    Herman Mankiewicz: Is it? Tell him, Willie. Tell him.

    [Silence]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Upton Sinclair used exactly those words to describe a young William Randolph Hearst.

    Louis B. Mayer: [leaping from his seat] You miserable bastard!

    Herman Mankiewicz: [bowing] How do you do?

    [Some guests begin to leave the room, but Hearst's and Mayer's eyes stay on Mank]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Our Quixote, he hungers, he thirsts, he lusts for the voters to love him, love him enough to make him president, but they won't. And they don't. How do you suppose that could happen? Could it be because, in their hearts, they know he values power over people?

    [More guests leave as Mank approaches Hearst, still seated]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Disillusioned in Congress, he authors not one single piece of legislation in two terms. Can you believe that? That'll take some writing. Placed in nomination for president... it's too radical for the boys in the back, his bid goes nowhere! But we're doing something. We're building sympathy!

    [Even more guests leave]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Rejected, he flees to lotus land, where his faithful troll, Sancho, has prepared a mythical kingdom for...

    [Mank eyes Davies, stopping himself totally]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Wait a minute. I forgot the love interest! Her name: Dulcinea.

    [Every remaining head in the room turns to Davies]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Funny, adventurous, smarter than she acts. Ah, she's a... she's a showgirl! Beneath his social stratum, but that's okay because true love on the big screens, we all know is blind. And she... well, she loves him, too. So he takes her away to his m-mythical kingdom,

    [to butler]

    Herman Mankiewicz: can I get a bicarb?

    [back to the guests]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Now, along comes nemesis, that's Greek for any guy in a black hat, nemesis runs for governor, and he's a shoo-in to win. Why?

    [points to Hearst]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Because he's EXACTLY what our Don used to be! An idealist, ya get it? And not only that, nemesis is the same guy who once predicted that our Quixote would one day preside over a socialist revolution. Our Quixote looks into the mirror of his youth and decides to break this glass, a maddening reminder of who he once was. Assisted by his faithful Sancho

    [pointing to Mayer]

    Herman Mankiewicz: and armed w-with all the black magic at his command, he does just this. Destroying, in the process, not one man... but two.

    [Hearst is clearly furious, but maintains his composure]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Well, what do ya think, Louis? Hm? Do ya think it'll play?

    [Mank finally belches onto the floor. Any guest who hasn't already left does so]

    Herman Mankiewicz: Don't worry, folks. The white wine came up with the fish!

  • Herman Mankiewicz: Irving, you are a literate man. You know the difference between communism and socialism. In socialism, everyone shares the wealth. In communism, everyone shares the poverty.