OVP: Mank (2020)

Film: Mank (2020)

Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Tom Burke, Charles Dance

Director: David Fincher

Oscar History: 10 nominations/2 wins (Best Picture, Director, Actor-Gary Oldman, Supporting Actress-Amanda Seyfried, Production Design*, Cinematography*, Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, Score, Sound)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

It has been said by many that Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all-time.  It is so storied in the pantheon of classic cinema that you'd be forgiven, upon viewing it for the first time, for wondering if it can live up to the hype, and for some modern film fans it doesn't.  I am not one of those fans.  While "greatest of all-time" might not be the phrase I'd name-check, Citizen Kane would rank toward, if not into, my all-time Top 10, and I think it's breathtaking, and the sort of movie that gets better with every repeat viewing.  As a result, having David Fincher, one of the best directors working, tackle the movie & its bizarre behind-the-scenes politics, felt like a wish fulfilled, but it also presented a problem.  Mank for me is what Citizen Kane is for many-a movie with such astronomical expectations (particularly after a cinematic year with more middling pictures than outright successes), that it'd be impossible to exactly live up to them.  After all, if Citizen Kane can't live up to its own hype despite being basically flawless, how could any other movie live up to Citizen Kane?

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie plays a little bit with the truth, so I'll establish what happens onscreen.  The film alternates between the "present" where Herman Mankiewicz (Oldman), a storied screenwriter (though not always credited, he was the man behind film classics like Dinner at Eight and The Wizard of Oz, and was a producer on most of the Marx Brothers' best pictures) is writing a screenplay that we understand to be Citizen Kane, while alternating back to what led him to being in a shack, writing what would be a career-killing script.  The script is an issue for the writer because it's obviously inspired by William Randolph Hearst (Dance), one of the most powerful newspaper men in the country, skewering both the publisher & his mistress actress Marion Davies (Seyfried).  As the film goes on, we learn some of the sources of Mank's hatred of Hearst, as well as studio chief Louis B. Mayer (Howard), stemming from their involvement in the 1934 California gubernatorial election, which pitted conservative Frank Merriam against socialist icon Upton Sinclair, with Sinclair losing in part because Hollywood studio bosses forced their talent to make propaganda films against him, even though they supported his campaign.  The movie ends with Mank, despite the problems it would cause him, demanding screen credit for the film, thus ending his working relationship with Orson Welles (Burke), but winning him his only Oscar.

Mank is a beautiful movie (it's criminal, and I can't even really stomach it, that this movie won't be seen by most on the big-screen as Eric Messerschmidt's cinematography is moody & glossy & glorious); in a year of less-than-inspired camerawork, this stands out so hard it's difficult to see a way that Messerschmidt doesn't get his first Oscar nomination, and probably a win.  The costumes are splendid, the sound work impeccable (creating so much atmosphere)-Mank is the sort of movie that comes about from having both money & taste.

The film pays homage repeatedly to its inspiration.  I have seen Citizen Kane more times than I can count, so I don't know what it would be like to see this movie without it as a touchpoint, but I suspect it won't read as magical.  Mank recalls certain key scenes from the original movie without always underlining it-things like the long dining room table or the cacophonous sound work, the way that everyone keeps pointing out that Marion is the inspiration for Charles Foster Kane's second wife, but that Mank's wife Sarah is hinted at in Kane's first spouse...Jack Fincher's script combs through the movie and along with Messerschmidt's work, gives us visual cues to the original film that have just a hint of malice (if you don't notice the clear parallels that Fincher also gives to our modern political climate & of course Donald Trump, you're not paying attention).

Like I said above, it's impossible to try to be Citizen Kane and not fall short-Citizen Kane is considered the greatest film of all time for a reason, and it's hard to compare it to other movies without them found lacking, and Mank is not perfect.  The ending in particular feels like you need a Film History major to understand it (which luckily for you I have).  Orson Welles is backgrounded as an almost mythic creature throughout most of the movie, and that the climax relies so heavily on him & the famed claims of Pauline Kael that Welles deserved minimal credit for the screenplay of the film (that it should have gone entirely to Mankiewicz) is where fact & Hollywood lore blend, and it makes the final payoff feel a little bit like Fincher didn't keep watching the dailies to know who had become the villain of his picture.

But up until that point Mank delivers in every conceivable way  It's a cruel noir, one with lots of gems & tiny performances.  Amanda Seyfried has been getting much of the credit for the acting in the film, and she deserves for being best on the call sheet (she knows how to make Marion the smartest person in the room even when she's pretending to be the dumbest), but the cast is uniformly good, filling out every corner of the screen with solid, brief cameos.  Oldman feels born to play this part, his boozy charm radiating even through Mank's ugliest moments.  And as a result, Mank is the rare movie this year that lives up to the hype, that feels like it'll escape 2020's grasp as a classic to be revisited, a picture confident enough in its own quality that it can stay firmly in the shadow of a greater movie without losing its luster.