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The task at hand is to talk about Mank, David Finchers complicated new film about screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz.
But we cant really do that without also talking about another film: Citizen Kane, which Mankiewicz co-wrote or wrote, depending on whom you listen to. Mank leaves no doubt.
It is the story of how Mankiewicz, played brilliantly by Gary Oldman, wrote Citizen Kane, despite being drunk, dissolute and broken literally; hes in a cast throughout, the result of a fractured leg suffered in a car accident.
It worked out. Citizen Kane is generally regarded as the greatest movie ever made, and wewill not argue against that assessment.
But its lofty status scares some people off. Oh, it must be stodgy critic-bait, easier to admire than love.
Nothing could be further from the truth. While its hugely influential and undeniably important, Citizen Kane is also a hoot, an entertaining dismantling of the rich and powerful, a thinly veiled takedown of William Randolph Hearst that is genuinely thrilling as it goes about its business.
Its not the film you might think it is, in other words.
Mank kind of is.
A history of Hollywood as much as a story of Mankiewiczs screenwriting, Mank has an air of importance about it, Oldmans freewheeling performance notwithstanding. Give Oldman a role where his character drinks and smokes too much and hes a marvel. (He did win an Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, after all.)
Mankiewicz is confined to a bed in remote Victorville, California, a setup arranged by 24-year-old Orson Welles (Tom Burke). The idea is to let Mankiewiczs leg heal, get the script written and dry him out.
Two out of three aint bad.
Mankiewicz dictates pages of the script to Rita (Lily Collins), his assistant, who is patient but not infinitely so. Theres a German housekeeper, and John Houseman (Sam Troughton) prods Mankiewicz along asWelles enforcer.
But Fincher (working from a script by his late father, Jack, who died in 2003) isnt especially interested in the creative process. Hes more concerned with what got Mankiewicz to this point, and with whats gone on in the world along the way.
Much of the film, then, takes place in flashbacks. A noted script doctor (he worked on films like The Wizard of Oz and Dinner at Eight), Mankiewicz, a former reporter and theater critic, had a brilliant, savage wit that he didnt bother to tame, no matter whom he was around. Being constantly soused probably didnt help. An inveterate gambler, we see him betting on coin flips in the writers room.
But studio executives valued Mankiewiczs talent and put up with him, at least for a time.
He also had an unlikely friendship with Hearst (Charles Dance, who plays Hearst as more bemused than anything else), serving as sort of the court jester, it seems, as well as with Hearsts partner, Marion Davies, played by an outstanding Amanda Seyfried, with by far the most heartfelt performance in the film.
Her friendship with Mankiewicz is the most genuine and honest he has. Seyfried energizes the film whenever she appears, a voice of hard-won wisdom.
For her trouble, she would be depicted in Citizen Kane as the flighty, untalented shrew for whom Kane tried to buy a career. (In real life, she enjoyed much more success.) And we know how Mankiewicz depicted Hearst, as Kane.
Why? Maybe he just couldnt help himself (a recurringtheme in his life), but more likely it appears he was just fed up. We see the studios thriving as the Depression cripples families.
Through misleading newsreels genuine fake news movie moguls influence the California gubernatorial election (interesting enough, but something Fincher spends far too much time dissecting).
By the time Welles hired him, Mankiewicz really had nothing to lose, not that he was bound by constraints anyway. His self-destructive lifestyle would lead to his death at 55.
But here he had his one last chance, a shot at immortality, though of course you cant know that when youre in the middle of it. But Mankiewicz did know he was onto something,enough so that he wanted credit, something in the film that Welles plans to take for himself (as part of their business agreement).
Oldman really nails the arrogance and self-loathing that drove Mankiewicz. He cant decide if life is agony or one big joke. Or maybe both.
Mank is all over the place. It'san obvious labor of love for Fincher, which may explain that. But its a good movie that is at least in part about the making of a great one. Watch it, and learn about Mankiewicz.
Then when youre done, watch (or rewatch) his masterpiece.
Great Good
Fair Bad Bomb
Director: David Fincher.
Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins.
Rating: R for some language.
Note: Streams on Netflix on Dec. 4.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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David Fincher's 'Mank' is a good Netflix movie about making the best movie ever - The Arizona Republic
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
