Movie Review - Mank

Herman J. Mankiewicz was nicknamed "Mank." He died of alcoholism in 1953. However, he was a very well-regarded, Hollywood screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Writing for Citizen Kane (1941). He was nominated again the following year, but, that was it. His only true glory was his work on Citizen Kane, a film that's now seen as one of the best films ever made. Director David Fincher (The Social Network and Fight Club) tells the story of what it took and what inspired Mankiewicz to write that 1941 classic and why it was his only true glory. Unlike the other recent feature about the making of Citizen Kane, namely RKO 281 (1999), Fincher attempts to mimic the style of Citizen Kane. Fincher directs this film in black-and-white cinematography. He frequently uses fade-outs, literal fading to black, in order to transition scenes. He even incorporates cue marks in the corner of the screen, which was the tradition for film projection in the 1940's, which Fincher explained in Fight Club.

The fact that Fincher includes those cue marks is indicative of the broader problem. Fincher's focus feels too much on getting these technical aspects correct and everything else feels secondary. There is an obsession from Fincher for technical precision and a passionate pursuit of perfection. Even a scene that's meant to be messy, a scene where Mankiewicz who is drunk and messy crashes a party, still feels precise and planned, very well planned. Others have described Fincher's way of working as being cold and clinical. It makes him a very good visual craftsman. This is beneficial when he has a script and characters that bring heat and compassion, or some kind of warmth and excitement. Normally, that warmth is some kind of violence. In a film like The Social Network, that excitement is the snappy dialogue from Aaron Sorkin. This film simply doesn't have that excitement or that warmth.

Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour and The Dark Knight) stars as Herman Mankiewicz aka Mank. We meet him in 1940 as he's being taken to North Verde Ranch in Victorville, a secluded resort in the desert. He was injured in a car accident, so his right leg is in a cast. He has an assistant, a secretary who is his typist. He's mostly bed-ridden, but his job is to write the script for Citizen Kane. As he does this, we cut to flashbacks that lead up to the 1934 gubernatorial election in California. Mank clashes with the head of the movie studio for whom he works, as he also clashes with a wealthy man that is wielding influence over the election.

Now, the excitement is supposed to come in the politics. Unfortunately, I feel like Fincher keeps us too much of a distance. Mank and the people around him talk about the politics but it all feels very removed. For example, Mank and the people at odds talk about the election and one of the candidates being Upton Sinclair, played by Bill Nye (Bill Nye, the Science Guy). However, Upton only physically appears in one scene and literally, Fincher's camera keeps us at a distance from him and the crowd of people he's addressing. Instead, Fincher's camera keeps us on movie sets, studio lots and in fancy homes of the wealthy, speaking aloofly about things.

This is essentially fine because the film is about how those in wealth, speaking so aloofly, can affect the masses of people who watch the products of Hollywood, the films, either as features or newsreels. It could be about how Hollywood can be used as a tool in politics or other areas in order for certain people to maintain their wealth and power. Except, by keeping us in this aloof bubble, we do lose something. It would have been like Fincher's Zodiac (2007), minus all the scenes of the murders and him never showing us the effects that the villain was perpetrating. Yes, the film could still work technically but we do lose something visceral. Whether the technical craft is enough without that visceral stuff is anyone's preference. Here, it's like we never see the effects of what any of these people are talking about. It feels like an academic exercise that's too intellectual for its own good and stays above the fray without ever getting its hands dirty.

Rated R for language.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 12 mins.

Available on Netflix.