Title: Mank
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Language: English, German, Latin
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Jack Fincher
Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt
Editing: Kirk Baxter
Cast:
Gary Oldman
Amanda Seyfried
Lily Collins
Charles Dance Dance
Tuppence Middleton
Arliss Howard
Tom Pelphrey
Joseph Cross
Sam Troughton
Ferdinand Kingsley
Monika Gossman
Tom Burke
Toby Leonard Moore
Jeff Harms
Jamie McShane
Leven Rambin
Rating: 7.6/10
Almost in every aspect, MANK could be David Fincher's crowning glory, his THE ARTIST (2011), not least for its requisite technical virtuosity, like the gorgeous panchromatic luster, with which who loves Golden Age Hollywood will not be irresistibly smitten? Content-wise , MANK is a biopic of Herman J. Mankiewicz, aka. Mank (1897-1953), the Oscar-winning scenarist of CITIZEN KANE (1941) and the elder brother of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who will eventually carry their family name further in the tiers of cinema royalties.
The script, written by Fincher's late father Jack, who passed away in 2003, principally bifurcates into two streams, one is Mank's completion of CITIZEN KANE's script in 1940, while he convalesces from a broken leg in Victorville, California, the another is the more diffuse flashbacks that chart Mank's relationships with William Randolph Hearst (Dance, saturnine, formidable and brimful of hauteur), the media tycoon, and the archetype of Kane; Hearst' mistress, actress Marion Davies (Seyfried) and MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer (a showboating Howard), among others.
We feel touched by Fincher's filial devotion to fulfill his father's dream posthumously, in fact, the filming of MANK was first broached in 1999, when Oldman was 41 years old, at his perfect age and form to play Mank in his prime, but two decades later, he cannot, no matter how flattering the black-and-light lightning and make-up efforts are, pass for a Mank in his 30s and 40s. Finally, we have a couple from Hollywood's yesteryears that isn't a cradle-snatcher case, yet it gets woefully undermined by the casting choice of Oldman. Middleton, who plays Mank's wife, the “poor” Sara, is 29 years younger than him, and in reality, Marion was one year older than Mank, but in the film , Oldman's fatherly gaze often discredits their seemingly platonic, but also looking suspiciously more-than-friend mutual admiration,albeit Seyfried finally finds the perfect part for her faux-naive big eyes. Her Marion defies simple categorization and easy approachability, a silver screen glamour puss who is perspicuous of her place and limits, contrasting Mank's idealist temperament, Marion represents the type of creature that can make it in the Tinseltown, she knows perfectly when to play dumb “I have already had my exit!” and when to take her stand, all done with irreproachable flair.all done with irreproachable flair.all done with irreproachable flair.
While it is undeniable that casting Oldman is roundly incongruous with the current wind of change, a slip might be completely overlooked by Fincher's wavelength, we can still grasp why he hires Oldman for the role. (trivia time, they both married and divorced the same woman, talking about the rapport of ex-husbands!) The latter is particularly fantastic in Mank's booze-influenced oratory and showmanship as a “court jester”, the party pooper who finally gets his discontent toward this world off his chest, so that his conscience can be salved, but have you heard the joke of an organ grinder's monkey? It is a sad satire, suffused by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' period-specific score and Fincher's hypnotic injection of a dissimilar lifeworld, MANK is less empathetic than abstract , and Mank, the nonconformist, has his last hurrah. Alas,MANK doesn't shed any light on how he manages to secure his co-credit with the wunderkind Welles (Burke runs away with a sledgehammer Welles in short screen time).
“Write hard, aim low”, a tenet should be adhered by all scribes, but MANK works hard and aims low, not just because the old Hollywood charm has worn thin since its underbellies are repeatedly brought into daylight, and its shibboleths increasingly get under the skin of our modern conscience, but also the film itself feels unreconstructed, reluctant to get it out of an alcoholic's own pathetic woolgathering (that offensive Rosebud joke, it is not funny now), to put it plainly, other than those really long in the tooth who have personal connections with the bygone era, why should we care about any of those antiquated, problematic characters at all? Aloof glancing is all one can response, only if MANK could have been made two decades earlier, both David Fincher and his father would give a pat on each other's back, that is old Hollywood in a snapshot!
referential entries: Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE (1941, 8.6/10); Fincher's GONE GIRL (2014, 8.4/10); Michel Hazanavicius' THE ARTIST (2011, 8.4/10).
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