Mank (2020) We thought we'd end up with raving enthusiasm for this film, given its irresistible subject matter......the account of how legendarily acerbic, dissolute screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz wrote "Citizen Kane" for the genius young director Orson Welles.
Not quite raving enthusiasm. While there's loads of stuff to love, admire and delve into here, the film's problematic on multiple levels.
No one's denying that Gary Oldman's portrayal of Mankiewicz is the kind of bravura piece of work you'd expect from Oldman. He never disappoints.
And David Fincher's meticulous recreation of 1930's Hollywood - the stars, the moguls, the costumes, the sets - are richly imagined, a recreation of a long gone never never land.
So what, you may ask. is the problem?
First off, it dawdles. In his efforts to present both the sumptuous splendor and moral squalor of the era, director David Fincher forgets to impart any immediacy or real drama to this story. At 131 minutes, it's a leisurely tour through Old Hollywood, with frequent side trips to flashbacks.
Some of these scenes left us fascinated......especially Mankiewicz's encounters with the studio titans of the era, Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, David O. Selznick. And especially his ups and downs with the two people who'd provide the templates for"Citizen Kane"s principle characters, Charles Foster Kane and his poor, pathetic would be opera star wife Susan Alexander.
One of the best (and wickedly funniest) sequences has 'Mank' and a stable of now fabled screenwriters, Ben Hecht, S.J. Perelman, and Charles Macarthur pitching mega-producer Selznick with a deliberately awful horror movie idea.....just to amuse themelves at his reaction.
As all college freshman know, Citizen Kane was a thinly fictionalized version of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, played here with icy reserve by Charles Dance. But it's to 'Mank's credit that it accurately portrays Hearst's real life starlet lover Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried) as nothing much like the hapless, unhappy version of her that Dorothy Comingore so vividly played in 'Kane'.
We stayed fully absorbed in all the scenes dealing with Mankiewicz pounding out the 'Kane' script. Laid up with a broken leg, he's been parked by Welles (Tom Burke) and producer John Houseman (Sam Troughton) in a remote desert house with his alcohol supply replaced with sedatives.
Too bad these scenes get constantly interrupted with too many of the repetitive flashbacks......most of which involve Mankiewicz crossing swords (and wits) with all the Hollywood higher powers. After five or six of such scenes, we wanted to cry out, "stop...please.....we get it already."
Where the film really lost us totally came its last minute episode which unfairly and, according to film historians, inaccurately paints Orson Welles as a villain, finally showing up and announcing to Mankiewicz that the writer won't receive any credit for his voluminous script.
The way this scene is tacked on to the tail end of film renders it ridiculous and unbelievable, cheapening everything that's come before it.
You can pluck out performances and moments that will resonate with any film buff, but we're giving you fair warning.......large chunks of it are simply a chore to get through and the the falsely conceived Orson Welles appearance throws a stain on the whole effort
A tough one to call, but there's enough fine filmmaking and acting on display here for give out 2 & 1/2 stars. (** 1/2).....just don't expect a masterpiece.
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