Mank

— This film has a lot going for it, with Gary Oldman and David Fincher topping the list. It’s also an interesting script, written by Fincher’s father, telling the tale through a series of flashbacks, à la “Citizen Kane,” an appropriate nod since the story is held together in the “present” with Herman Mankiewicz (“Mank”), recovering from a serious auto accident, in a remote cabin working on a deadline to write the script for “Citizen Kane.” It’s a complicated back-and-forth in black-and-white and it manages to keep your attention, at least if you’re interested in 1930’s and 1940’s Hollywood. What seems to be a film about the experiences that gave Mank the inspiration for the script, ends up as a beast with two personalities, and is as much about the intersection of Tinsel Town power and politics with national and statewide politics then, and, by extension, now. Well, it’s all very interesting but a little disappointing too. It doesn’t rise to the level of Fincher’s “The Social Network,” perhaps because the story remains less personal to draw out the parallels, or maybe Oldman’s Mank just isn’t as artfully written and acted as Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg. No matter what, although historical fiction, Mank feels much more speculative than historical. It’s a beautiful and wonderful film some of the time, and that’s enough to make it worth watching. [Netflix streaming.]

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[2020. 131 minutes. Directed by David Fincher. Starring Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, and Arliss Howard.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mank-movie-review-2020