Mank (2020) Movie Review

Mank serves as an obituary of sorts at two levels, one by director David Fincher for his father Jack Fincher whose screenplay has been used posthumously and to the legacy of Citizen Kane, arguably the greatest film ever made. Clearly the stakes are pretty high for Fincher’s passion project, coincidentally his return to film after a six-year hiatus (after the critic’s favorite Gone Girl released back in 2014) serving as the showrunner for two acclaimed Netflix shows. Jack Fincher’s screenplay follows the exploits of Herman J Mankiewicz - Mank (Gary Oldman) who is credited as the co-writer on Citizen Kane, a film that changed the landscape of moviemaking for good and also fueled a drift between the film’s leading man and director Orson Welles and Mank over ownership of the Oscar winning screenplay .

The film shot in beautiful black and white starts from the MGM writer’s room and the insider power politics dating back to the hay days of studio system. Mank is a senior writer, a genius with a slight drinking problem ( a trait that eventually leads to his untimely demise ) The film starts with a reckless car accident that leads to a bed ridden Mank being shifted to a faraway ranch – possibly secluded from the noise and buzzle surrounding Citizen Kane , the to finish the first draft of the screenplay before the allowed deadline forced on incessantly by Welles ( Tom Burke). Mank with the help of a stenographer Rita (Lili Collins) start writing the infamous screenplay loosely based on the life of a Hollywood sweetheart William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) an acquaintance of Mank.
Mank is structured along the lines of Kane, with a nonlinear structure cutting back and forth between the original writing of the screenplay and the events that occurred in Mank’s career before he was roped in to write the film. Orson Welles is more of a footnote in David Fincher’s take of the story as we are suggested of his presence largely through phone conversations and that brooding yet eloquent baritone in some of the crucial scenes. The film addresses Mank’s personal conflicts without allowing the more crowd-pleasing “Citizen Kane Feud “ angle to take center stage. Fincher tries to humanize Mankiewicz as a flawed man faced with a severe test of character on his journey to write” the best thing he has ever written “against a giant Hollywood system trying to drop the project dead for its uncanny resemblance to the life of the powerful tycoon who controls the industry.
Jack Fincher takes us through the moral and personal dilemma’s Mank has to overpower ranging from chances at rejuvenating his lost career , the consequences of exposing the live of Marion Davies ( Amanda Seyfried ) , Heart’s mistress in his effort to tell the true story of power corruption and a final chance at redemption in an industry that has long since overlooked his potential for his tongue in cheek persona leading to unwanted trouble in his personal life and writing career. Hollywood giants like David O Selznick, Ferdinand Kingsley, Louis B Mayer also appear in Fincher’s critique of the conventional studio system and its oppressive policies on the lives of filmmakers and creative minds. The film pays its due to the art of screenwriting and sheds some light on one of world cinema’s most heated debate’s from the perspective of the writer but we will have to wait for an future take on the same subject told from Orson Welles who was never given a chance in Fincher’s world to make his case or present the other side of the story , the story from the central creative force of Citizen Kane, the star director Welles who had no agency this time around in Mank’s story.