cinemabon
12-05-2020, 11:21 PM
Mank
Directed by David Fincher
Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), known more for his contributions to major screenplays than for penning an original, is tasked by Orson Welles (Tom Burk) to write a screenplay in two months. Mank, as his friends know him, breaks his leg in an auto accident and is laid up in a desert cabin with a stenog (Lily Collins) and a German nurse. By now, a reclusive alcoholic and on the career decline, his wife (Tuppence Middleton) and famous brother, Joseph (Tom Pelphrey), support Mank in this effort along with John Houseman (Sam Troughton) who floats in occasionally from the shadows. It’s Houseman’s criticism in the film’s beginning that frames the film’s construction: “You’ve created a series of stories shown in flashbacks that jump back and forth through time… the audience will never buy it.” That is the exact construction of “Mank,” perhaps as an homage to Kane.
The nickname Mank is one Mankiewicz created when people mangled his last name and to which his friends could easily pronounce. After the film’s opening setting of the accident and desert cabin, we fly back in time to when Mank first attended a soiree at the Hearst castle in San Simeon, on the coast of California. He befriended Marion Davies, although he’d met her prior to his arrival via an invitation from Charles Lederer (Joseph Cross), Davies nephew. Yes, there are lots of writer’s names dropped in the opening scenes, practically anyone who was important in those first days in Hollywood, like Kauffman and Hecht, played out in a hilarious send up of David O. Selznick. Although relegated to one liners, their presence helps to establish the importance Mankiewicz played in those early days, bringing some of New York’s best and brightest to Hollywood, where many made their fortunes. In one scene Herman brings his brother Joe to meet Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) who is portrayed with very little sympathy as he informs workers, they must take a pay cut while telling Joe moments before that “MGM is one big family.” The hypocrisy plays well.
Mank’s inspiration for “Citizen Kane,” renamed from the original script called “American” comes from his time at San Simeon and his exposure to Hearst. Though he empathizes with Davies’ situation at times (married to demanding Hearst) during their frequent visits, he uses her as the model for Susan Alexander (the last name of his secretary) in the screenplay. In a series of montage flashbacks, we see how Mank came to loath Hearst (Charles Dance) along with Mayer as manipulators of the truth. They use the Republican Party to destroy Upton Sinclair’s run for public office and in the end, one of Mank’s friends commits suicide, which further drives the writer to drink.
Once he finishes the script, Mank discovers just who his friends are as one by one, they stop by to dissuade him from submitting the script that somehow has made its way around town and even into the hands of his old friend, Marion Davies. They all come to visit his desert cabin, including his brother Joe, trying to convince him that “he’ll never work in Hollywood again” if the film goes forward. While Hearst still has tremendous power in America, what none of them know is that it is on the decline. After the war, nearly all of Hearst’s involvement in the publishing business will evaporate and he dies penniless in the arms of a woman he never married. Mankiewicz, furious when Welles offers to buy him out, demands screen credit. Welles storms out of the meeting. The rest is film history, as Citizen Kane wins only one Oscar for Original Screenplay. On the night of the ceremony, when Mank’s name is announced, the cheer from the crowd is so loud it drowns out the name of the co-winner, Welles.
“Mank” is a beautifully photographed film by American Cinematography Society member Erik Messerschmidt in his first feature film. Shot in high-definition Red Cinema, Messerschmidt uses the same lighting tricks that Greg Toland used in Citizen Kane (such as on set light fade ins and outs, deep focus, and juxtaposition) that will remind those of us who’ve seen Kane as being familiar. Fincher’s direction not only capitalizes on those camera tricks but also lets Oscar-winner Oldman give an over-the-top performance as the often drunk Mankiewicz, something that is very difficult to do convincingly. The fast-paced dialogue by screenwriter Jack Fincher, director David Fincher’s father, who died in 2003, is brilliant, funny and full of wit. It’s unfortunate, too, because the screenplay is so good, it should be considered for an Oscar; and if it isn’t, mores the pity for the Academy (they don’t often award posthumously). David Fincher had always wanted to shoot the film in black and white, which most studios wouldn’t finance. It wasn’t until two years ago that Netflix finally greenlit the project and another to land Oldman for the lead role, one actor Fincher always had in mind.
The movie is a reminder of how great movies used to be in terms of dialogue. No one writes such witty and verbose dialogue any longer. Mankiewicz was one of the last of the Algonquin Round Table to write for that era New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called “her favorite in film history, thanks to the style [Mankiewicz] instilled into so many scripts, uncredited.” He influenced such movies as “The Wizard of Oz” and “Dinner at Eight” and many others from that era. While he never wrote another original screenplay again, although he collaborated or adapted many films after that including “Pride of the Yankees” (1952) and “The Enchanted Cottage (both versions). He died in 1953 due to complications from alcoholism. His widow passed in 1985.62
Directed by David Fincher
Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), known more for his contributions to major screenplays than for penning an original, is tasked by Orson Welles (Tom Burk) to write a screenplay in two months. Mank, as his friends know him, breaks his leg in an auto accident and is laid up in a desert cabin with a stenog (Lily Collins) and a German nurse. By now, a reclusive alcoholic and on the career decline, his wife (Tuppence Middleton) and famous brother, Joseph (Tom Pelphrey), support Mank in this effort along with John Houseman (Sam Troughton) who floats in occasionally from the shadows. It’s Houseman’s criticism in the film’s beginning that frames the film’s construction: “You’ve created a series of stories shown in flashbacks that jump back and forth through time… the audience will never buy it.” That is the exact construction of “Mank,” perhaps as an homage to Kane.
The nickname Mank is one Mankiewicz created when people mangled his last name and to which his friends could easily pronounce. After the film’s opening setting of the accident and desert cabin, we fly back in time to when Mank first attended a soiree at the Hearst castle in San Simeon, on the coast of California. He befriended Marion Davies, although he’d met her prior to his arrival via an invitation from Charles Lederer (Joseph Cross), Davies nephew. Yes, there are lots of writer’s names dropped in the opening scenes, practically anyone who was important in those first days in Hollywood, like Kauffman and Hecht, played out in a hilarious send up of David O. Selznick. Although relegated to one liners, their presence helps to establish the importance Mankiewicz played in those early days, bringing some of New York’s best and brightest to Hollywood, where many made their fortunes. In one scene Herman brings his brother Joe to meet Louis B. Mayer (Arliss Howard) who is portrayed with very little sympathy as he informs workers, they must take a pay cut while telling Joe moments before that “MGM is one big family.” The hypocrisy plays well.
Mank’s inspiration for “Citizen Kane,” renamed from the original script called “American” comes from his time at San Simeon and his exposure to Hearst. Though he empathizes with Davies’ situation at times (married to demanding Hearst) during their frequent visits, he uses her as the model for Susan Alexander (the last name of his secretary) in the screenplay. In a series of montage flashbacks, we see how Mank came to loath Hearst (Charles Dance) along with Mayer as manipulators of the truth. They use the Republican Party to destroy Upton Sinclair’s run for public office and in the end, one of Mank’s friends commits suicide, which further drives the writer to drink.
Once he finishes the script, Mank discovers just who his friends are as one by one, they stop by to dissuade him from submitting the script that somehow has made its way around town and even into the hands of his old friend, Marion Davies. They all come to visit his desert cabin, including his brother Joe, trying to convince him that “he’ll never work in Hollywood again” if the film goes forward. While Hearst still has tremendous power in America, what none of them know is that it is on the decline. After the war, nearly all of Hearst’s involvement in the publishing business will evaporate and he dies penniless in the arms of a woman he never married. Mankiewicz, furious when Welles offers to buy him out, demands screen credit. Welles storms out of the meeting. The rest is film history, as Citizen Kane wins only one Oscar for Original Screenplay. On the night of the ceremony, when Mank’s name is announced, the cheer from the crowd is so loud it drowns out the name of the co-winner, Welles.
“Mank” is a beautifully photographed film by American Cinematography Society member Erik Messerschmidt in his first feature film. Shot in high-definition Red Cinema, Messerschmidt uses the same lighting tricks that Greg Toland used in Citizen Kane (such as on set light fade ins and outs, deep focus, and juxtaposition) that will remind those of us who’ve seen Kane as being familiar. Fincher’s direction not only capitalizes on those camera tricks but also lets Oscar-winner Oldman give an over-the-top performance as the often drunk Mankiewicz, something that is very difficult to do convincingly. The fast-paced dialogue by screenwriter Jack Fincher, director David Fincher’s father, who died in 2003, is brilliant, funny and full of wit. It’s unfortunate, too, because the screenplay is so good, it should be considered for an Oscar; and if it isn’t, mores the pity for the Academy (they don’t often award posthumously). David Fincher had always wanted to shoot the film in black and white, which most studios wouldn’t finance. It wasn’t until two years ago that Netflix finally greenlit the project and another to land Oldman for the lead role, one actor Fincher always had in mind.
The movie is a reminder of how great movies used to be in terms of dialogue. No one writes such witty and verbose dialogue any longer. Mankiewicz was one of the last of the Algonquin Round Table to write for that era New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called “her favorite in film history, thanks to the style [Mankiewicz] instilled into so many scripts, uncredited.” He influenced such movies as “The Wizard of Oz” and “Dinner at Eight” and many others from that era. While he never wrote another original screenplay again, although he collaborated or adapted many films after that including “Pride of the Yankees” (1952) and “The Enchanted Cottage (both versions). He died in 1953 due to complications from alcoholism. His widow passed in 1985.62