Review: Mank | 3 ½ out of 4 Stars |
By Kyle Osborne
What I liked about “Mank” is its rhythm, – the cadence of the dialogue and the almost musical beats in the editing. Gary Oldman delivers his lines like he’s calmly snapping your neck with a rubber band. Minimal effort, maximum results.
Oldman plays Herman J. Mankiewicz , the Hollywood screenwriter who either wrote Citizen Kane, or co-wrote it with Orson Welles, the wunderkind director and star of what has commonly been considered the greatest film of all time, since its release in 1941. I put the “or” in because there has been considerable debate among film historians over the years as to who wrote what . The film has its own point of view on this topic, which makes it all the stronger as a story, and isn’t that the important bit for someone watching?
Director David Fincher’s loving hand is in every frame, which is not to say that there is any sentimentality. Fincher’s father wrote the first draft of the “Mank” screenplay, which Fincher has adapted, and there isn’t a single word out of place.
Having said that, the movie is for the viewer who’s already familiar with the backstory; that the film was said to be about the publishing giant and notorious bully William Randolph Hearst, and that Hearst did his best to kill the film, or at least injure it, and may have partially succeeded at the time. Who are Irving Thalberg, Louis B. Mayer, Upton Sinclair, and Joseph Mankiewicz (among others)? Many movie buffs will know, but for everyone else, a quick run through the Wikipedia bios before watching will enhance the experience greatly. And finally, if you’re betting in this year’s Oscar pool, nominations for production design and cinemaphotography are sure things.
But the reason to watch the film is for Gary Oldman’s note-perfect performance. Mank was a drunk, and he certainly ruffled a lot of feathers in the 1930s, but he had a rather functional form of alcoholism that never stunted his razor sharp wit, nor his ability to make product back in the studio days.
The gorgeous black and white photography, the desert settings and the studio lots all make the film a visual delight – even if you’re watching it on your iPhone.
Streaming now on Netflix. Rated R for some language. Running time: 2h 12m By the way, Citizen Kane is currently available on HBO Max.
I really enjoyed the look–as if they were trying to recreate the style Gregg Toland achieved in “Citizen Kane”–though I found the film overly long.
The only thing that bugged me was the typewriter effect used to identify the location and date of each scene: it was great how it “typed” on, but then they would simulate the effect of hitting the carriage return and the text shifted down on the screen, where–on a real typewriter–the platen would have moved it up!