1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane.
- Released: 2020-11-13
- Runtime: 132 minutes
- Genre: Drama, History
- Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane, Toby Leonard Moore, Monika Gossmann, Charles Dance, Jack Romano, Adam Shapiro, John Churchill, Jeff Harms, Derek Petropolis, Sean Persaud, Paul Fox, Tom Simmons, Nick Job, Colin Ward, Cooper Tomlinson, Julie Collis, Arlo Mertz, Craig Welzbacher, Jessie Cohen, Desiree Louise, Amie Farrell, Ian Boyd, Jay Villwock, Lou George, John Lee Ames, Bill Nye, Richmond Arquette, David Lee Smith, Mario Di Donato, James Patrick Duffy, Flo Lawrence, Sebastian Faure, Randy Davison, Christian Prentice, Leven Rambin, Rick Pasqualone, Gary Teitelbaum, Eden Wattez, Roslyn Cohn, Mark Fite, John Patrick Jordan, Ben Mankiewicz, Natalie Denise Sperl, Brian Michael Jones, Camille Montgomery, Craig Robert Young, Paul Carafotes, Anne Beyer, Joey Hagler, Sean Donnellan, Stewart Skelton, Malachi Rivers, Keith Barber, Kaytlin Borgen, Madison West, Elvy, Ali Axelrad, Adrienne Evans, Wylie Small, Dana Lyn Baron, Jaclyn Bethany, Cary Christopher, Michelle Twarowska, Kingston Vernes, Jordan Matlock, Anthony Molinari, Daniel Hoffman
- Director: David Fincher
Comments
- malmevik77 - 26 February 2024
A cautionary tale of the power of media
Mank
A film that explores the life of Herman Mankiewicz during his work writing Citizen Kane, deserves its multitude of Oscar nominations. Gary Oldman gave such a great performance that I was swept up in his tragic story.
Mank, as we learn, is a very unhappy man that finds comfort in a strong wit that allows him to hide behind comedy and humor. And also, alcoholism. The black and white film evokes the era quite well when a lot of films reflected this method of performance.
I have seen Citizen Kane, and I am familiar with the rumors surrounding its true meaning, so it was nice to see those fleshed out with the characters of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. The film switches between "the present of 1940" and most of the 1930s, reflecting events in the state of California that include a contentious gubernatorial race, and the firm grip held by the major motion picture studios. Presenting the idea that films and newspapers can influence the public shows an eerie foreshadowing to today's news channels doing the same thing.
I can understand feeling isolated and having to turn to substances to feel anything else, and I really felt for him as his life didn't turn out the way he felt it should. Addiction can ruin lives. I wonder what might have happened had he not written a not-so-thinly veiled attack on Hearst. I wonder what might have happened if he managed to forge a stronger bond with Marion. But wondering can not change what happened.
The film ends with the mess created by Citizen Kane's release, and a very short summary of the last 12 years of his life before he succumbed to alcoholism. To summarize 12 years in a sentence is tragic and sad, when the man was so complex. I recommend giving it a chance for the amazing acting, political commentary, and learning about a man that really existed. All we can do is learn from the past, and try not to repeat it. In 2024, nothing was learned as the public continues to rely on escapism and avoidance that ironically provides messages of either fake news, or tragedy that continues this circle. OK enough of that commentary. Go enjoy the movie. - lee_eisenberg - 4 July 2023
it's something that can only happen once
Orson Welles's "Citizen Kane" is widely regarded as the greatest movie of all time. Lesser known is what happened behind the scenes. The 1999 HBO movie "RKO 281" depicted William Randolph Hearst's unsuccessful efforts to prevent the movie's release. Now we have David Fincher's "Mank". The focus here is on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, with Gary Oldman in the title role.
The movie goes to great lengths to create the feeling of an old movie: black-and-white cinematography, cigarette burns, and sometimes underexposed lighting. Herman Mankiewicz's screenwriting gets about half the screen time, with the other half focusing on flashbacks of his early days in Hollywood, and the 1934 election.
Without a doubt, the movie gets unwieldy at times, with the glut of information. Even so, I liked this look at old Hollywood and the early stages of what would become the most renowned movie in history. This combination of talent could only happen once. As for Hearst, he was truly the devil incarnate. This movie doesn't make Marion Davies's views of Hearst clear; "RKO 281" depicts her irritated by his greed and support of fascism.
All in all, I think that the movie's worth seeing, if not great.
