Mank (2020)
Genre: Biography / Drama
Duration: 131 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: David Fincher
Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins
IMDb score:
6,8 (103.859)
Releasedate: 13 November 2020
Mank plot
Herman J. Mankiewicz is a screenwriter who occasionally enjoys a glass of wine. He is currently writing the screenplay of 'Citizen Kane' which will bring him great fame. The development of this film from the year 1941 and directed by Orson Welles does not go without a hitch. 'Mank' gives an insight into what goes on behind the scenes and on set.
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Actors and actresses
Herman Mankiewicz
Marion Davies
Rita Alexander
Louis B. Mayer
Joseph Mankiewicz
John Houseman
Irving Thalberg
Sara Mankiewicz
Orson Welles
Charles Lederer
Reviews & comments
Drs. DAJA
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- 4355 messages
- 4515 votes
I'm a movie buff, in fact, this period and Orson Welles are of great interest to me. I am also fascinated by the way in which a writer/artist comes to his/her work. I thought I would be the ideal viewer for this movie...
I can't help but think this is messy junk. The screenplay is of a very amateur level with little development, hardly any tension or bonding with the characters. At the scene level, there's little to do except raving characters who don't get any further than trivial namedropping that rarely contributes to the story. It seems that this was written by someone (fincher's father, who passed away 17 years ago) who especially likes to give anecdotal context about the situation in which Mankiewicz came up with the screenplay. It must have been almost willfully sabotaged while writing Mank because of the tense struggle between Hearst and Citizen Kane, Welles' notorious status in Hollywood, and the still-unsolved credit battle over the script nothing comes back. The film is nothing but a dry enumeration of period information that even I, as a Welles and film fan, can easily see matched by an average wikipedia page.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mjk87 (moderator films)
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- 14596 messages
- 4552 votes
Yep, a bit of a disappointment. I can appreciate that a picture of the time is mainly sketched and a short story from which the person Mank emerges, but it doesn't quite work out. In the end, he is still a mystery. Oldman doesn't know how to get into Mank either. He does remain believable with his character, but it remains a piece of acting that you look at, just like with Meryl Streep, although she sometimes knows how to irritate, luckily Oldman does not do that.
Visually nice and sometimes beautifully luxurious, but it mainly remains gray instead of beautifully contrasting black and white. The film is atmospheric enough and fast enough not to get bored completely, but the film didn't really captivate either. 3.0*.
Translated from Dutch · View original
cinemanukerke
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- 1875 messages
- 1060 votes
Splendid. To all who think it's a (bland) biopic about Citizen Kane; I would like to say : the film is much stronger than that ! Although there is that background information about the creation of Citizen Kane, only about the writing process and how the inspiration came from dealing with Hearst (e.g. that walk through Hearst's domain with the animal park in the background is the building block for Xanadu, the characters Kane and Susan are indeed modeled after Hearst and Marion, etc). There are, however, more visual references to Citizen Kane (and the 1940s movies in general) to admire. The scenes, for example, are introduced as a script (typing typewriter, with the standard mention of year – location – daily schedule). Structurally, the story also runs like Citizen Kane, in other words, a flashback structure where you get information little by little as to why he now wants to write this story. Photography beautiful with the feel of movies from the 1940s. But like I said, this is packaging. The movie is much stronger.
In Mank, the drama transcends the Citizen kane story. A man who was spat out by his studio and boss (Mayer and Hearst) because of his own mistake, by his own arrogance. But the revenge he wants to take by writing a script makes him reawaken his writing talents. Appalling and moving.
For example, there is the masterly scene; the conversation in the large living room. The montage that follows the perfect rhythm of the dialogues. There are still some. Fincher knows how to make cinema. And Fincher does not just make a film, it is also a reflection on contemporary (American) politics. There is in fact the storyline of the elections being manipulated by media manipulation. Fake news something new?
Translated from Dutch · View original
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