Mank
Ratings: 4.2/5
Duration: 2 hrs 11 mins
Language: English
Genre: Biographical Drama
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Jack Fincher
Based On: Life of Herman J. Mankiewicz
Producer: Ceán Chaffin, William Doyle, Peter Mavromates, Andrea McKee, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski
Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt
Editing: Kirk Baxter
Art Direction: Chris Craine, Dan Webster
Release Date: 13 November 2020 (limited theatre release)
Streaming On: Netflix (4 December 2020)
Star Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey, Arliss Howard, Tuppence Middleton, Monika Gossmann, Joseph Cross, Sam Troughton, Toby Leonard Moore, Tom Burke, Charles Dance, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jamie McShane, Jack Romano, Adam Shapiro, John Churchill, Jeff Harms, Derek Petropolis, Sean Persaud, Paul Fox, Tom Simmons, Nick Job, Colin Ward, Cooper Tomlinson, Craig Welzbacher, Jessie Cohen, Desiree Louise, Amie Farrell
Plot:
1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing wit and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish ‘Citizen Kane’.
Review:
Mank is a 2020 American biographical drama film about writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, directed by David Fincher, based on a script written by his father Jack Fincher, and is produced by Ceán Chaffin, Douglas Urbanski, and Eric Roth.
Fincher's father Jack wrote the script in the 1990s, and David originally intended to film it after he completed The Game (1997), with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster as the leads. It never came to fruition, and Jack Fincher died in 2003. Eventually, the project was officially announced in July 2019, and filming took place around Los Angeles from November 2019 to February 2020.
The story centers on the life of Herman J. Mankiewicz as he wrote Citizen Kane, and the problems that arose with Orson Welles during production and leading up to the film's release.
With Gary Oldman in the title role, it is an excellent casting choice as a superb supporting cast too. Fincher has crafted entertainment that is unapologetically entertaining, limitless, unfiltered, and emotion-evoking. The film takes a turn with Mankiewicz integrating Hearst’s romance with the much younger starlet Marion Davies, a superb Amanda Seyfried.
Fincher and his crew (cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, editor Kirk Baxter, sound supervisor Ren Klyce, production designer Donald Graham Burt, and many more) present the film in a black-and-white image and creates the illusion of old-time reel changes.
Set against the backdrop of California’s messy 1934 gubernatorial election, Fincher’s movie finds the perfect tone with the then traditional Hollywood and eventually immersing the audience into its ever-revolving drama.
