Mank (2020) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes when you want share one story, you need to tell another first.
PLOT
2020’s Mank tells the story of acclaimed writer Herman Jacob Mankiewicz and the process of writing Citizen Kane. In 1940 after sustaining a broken leg from a car crash, Director Orson Welles and Producer John Houseman (Sam Troughton) approach Mank himself to adapt the script with their creative freedom from RKO Pictures. As he begins writing, he would mostly have it dictated by his secretary Rita Alexander while Houseman and his brother Joseph (Tom Pelphrey) worry of how the movie would affect newspaper publisher/politician William Randolph Hearst given the fact that the main character Charles Foster Kane is heavily similar to him. Even when he finishes the script in time, Houseman would also have to break the news he won’t be credited for writing it. A series of flashbacks set in the early 30s would be shown that Herman was first introduced to Hearst through actress Marion Davies who invited him to one of his parties at Hearst Castle and while many at the party discussed of Nazi Germany’s rise as well as Upton Sinclair (Bill Nye) becoming a popular democratic gubernatorial candidate, Mann got along with Davies best over the industry. Around ‘34, Herman and Joseph would be working at MGM for the studio’s co founder Louis B Mayer to work against Sinclair’s campaign via propagandas for smear campaign, funded by Hearst. The propagandas were only a suggestion by Herman due to the fact he wouldn’t endorse Sinclair’s republican opponent Frank Merriam. When he tries to tell Marion to see if they can pull the smear campaign, but she had already left to work with Warner Bros. At a watch party in Trocadero Nightclub where Merriam is announced the winner of the election, director Shelly Metcalf (Jamie McShane) would commit suicide via gunshot wound after discovering his diagnosis with Parkinson’s and feel guilty being involved with the smear campaign when in fact supporting Sinclair personally. Resuming to ‘40, when fellow writer Charles Lederer (Joseph Cross) visits Herman to pick up the script, he warns him that Hearst’s reaction could affect Marion’s career given the fact he knows of their friendship. When Mank also tells Marion he doesn’t intend to rewrite it, she hopes to convince Herman to stop the movie from being made period. The final flashback would take place in ‘37, showing Herman crash another party at Hearst Castle, calling him out for not supporting Sinclair when he in fact supported him as a champion of socialism in his youth as budding newspaper magnate. Besides Hearst, this drunken rant to the point of Herman vomiting would offend everyone attending including Marion. Offended as well, Mayer would reveal to him that Hearst only keeps him around on payroll because he sees him as a court jester. It is only after this where Hearst officially decides to see him out. Back to ‘40, Welles has declared re-writing without Herman and when picking up the original script to offer a buyout, Mank insists being credited for his work not only due to the Screen Writers Guild being revived, but also because he deems it his greatest work. Welles would be originally upset due to how this affected his artistic control and went against his contract with Mercury Productions that he wouldn’t be credited for his work, but he accepted his sole condition to avoid bad publicity. Two years after the release of Citizen Kane, both men would share the win for Original Screenplay Oscar. The film ends in an epilogue revealing Mank to have died of complications related to his alcoholism at the age of 55 on 3/5/53 and never worked with Welles again.
THOUGHTS
After the success of the series Mindhunter, fans were wondering what was to come next of David Fincher during the era of his career when contracted to Netflix. The first movie that came to mind was directing a script written by his journalist father Jack who first worked on it in the 90s before passing away in 2003. It’s kinda crazy no one at the time wanted to go along with the old school black & white aesthetic when so many movies would keep the dying trend going from various studios. Needless to say, it did seem like that was the main course David needed to do the story justice. When making a biopic of the screenwriting process behind an all time classic that is Citizen Kane? You know everyone is gonna tune in to this time warp. Kirk Baxter’s smooth editing, Erik Messerschmidt’s immersive cinematography, Donald Graham Burt’s incredible production design and the nostalgic score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross are all great aspects that keep pulling you into something you never thought to be a part of until now. Like past biopics, there’s going to be a fair share of liberties. The best example being how Mank first pitched the movie in a drunken rant towards Hearst, but him vomiting actually happened at the residence of Arthur Hornblow Jr., nor did he target him despite him being a regular and Sinclair was never an actual inspiration towards the script in comparison to the former. I think the reason the story approaches the inspiration as such would be because it all reflects the price of integrity, dangers of manipulation and how it takes sacrifice to get the vision right. Gary Oldman is fantastic as the titular lead because behind the addiction to gambling & alcoholism that creates a lot of cynicism and affected his marriage with his wife Sara (Tuppence Middleton) before his passing, he still carries a brilliant mind. When everyone else would rather abandon whatever their past morals were to keep working where they want to be in the industry, he proudly remains defiant refusing to hold back with what’s on his mind. Behind an atmosphere that lets him feel most alive, he still has so much gentleness within. The guy was the son of a German Jewish immigrant that helped Jewish refugees seek work in the United States, which is implied when his housekeeper claims he saved her whole village of fascism. That’s the best example of how big a heart he has to the deserved. While not exactly vulnerable, he also continues being at his most honest to those willing to listen and accept his perspective. Arliss Howard was fascinating as Louis B Mayer because one of the few to truly be in the middle between Mank and Hearst. He’s the most transactional given his responsibilities, whereas Charles Dance showed the publisher to be quietly controlling of an individual. He may have called him an organ grinder’s monkey, but he found out the hard way not every animal can be controlled. Mank based Charles Foster Kane off of him because he was telling us nobody so disillusioned deserves to be so powerful. In a lot of ways, Tom Burke brought his own level of ambition as Welles who expresses it when being quite ominous to Mank. He knew he could’ve kept bullying him out of the credited work if he wanted to, but knew it wasn’t worth bickering with someone just as talented. Welles may have gotten to have a longer and more decorative career due to living longer, but I do firmly believe his success with Citizen Kane would’ve not aged so well had he not acknowledged him. Having said that, it is nice to know there were still people that got to see his kindness behind the enigma. Lily Collins was nice to see as Rita Alexander, whose name was inspiration to another Citizen Kane character, because she gets to be an anchor that was missing in his life at that point. Due to her husband not being home as he was an RAF pilot (when he was actually a European refugee), her motivation was to keep Mank on top of himself so that he can keep being expressive as he wishes. The chemistry was definitely worthwhile because by the time he got what he wanted out of Welles, she got the news her husband was coming home. Last but not least, Amanda Seyfried was dazzling as Marion Davies, who was one of the last good friends Mank ever had near the end of his life. Scoring her first Oscar nomination for supporting actress, she stood out best for matching his wit, mutually bonding over alcoholism and understanding his cynicism better than anyone at that point. She knew what was his inspiration and while she couldn’t blame him, she was still loyal to Hearst as his mistress and wasn’t ready to let go of such materialism. While it’s not true that she tried talking him out of finishing the script, I’d like to believe she would’ve wanted to if given the chance. And although her career could’ve gone to greater lengths had she scored the Marie Antoinette role in ‘38, she likely found content when choosing to retire in ‘37 to care for an ailing Hearst (passing away 8/14/51 at the age of 88) and focus on charitable work before passing in 9/22/61 at the age of 64. If there is an afterlife, I’d also like to believe she and Mank got to share more libations together. In conclusion, Mank is an ideal Best Picture nominee for being an exceptional talent of old school integrity. If you have Netflix and dig the past over the present, check this out when you can.
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