MANK Review
Being a screenwriter is hard work, being a screenwriter in the 1940’s who can’t put down the drink while being tasked to create something magical for Orson Welles even more so. Directed by David Fincher, working from a long laboring script from his late father Jack, MANK concerns itself with the conception of one of the greatest films of all time and the man who was lost to history during its creation. It is a film that observes the trials and tribulations of a writer amid the ceaseless Hollywood system of yesteryear (the 1930’s to be exact) and, surprisingly enough, the shady politics of that era as well. MANK, like it’s title character, portrayed with understated gusto by Gary Oldman, is witty yet weary, observant yet infatuated with the past, and as a whole, kind of all over the place.
But who could blame poor old Mank (full name Herman Mankiewicz) for being a little frazzled? A valued screenwriter in his past now turned into a tipsy has-been, the pseudo-alcoholic Mank finds himself recruited by none other than wonder child Orson Welles (Tom Burke, putting on a pretty damn good impression) to write the soon to be immortal script of what will become to be known as CITIZEN KANE. Bedridden with a broken foot (or leg?) in the California desert with nothing but a typewriter, a British assistant (Lily Collins), a German housekeeper (Monika Gossmann), and a tempting crate of alcohol in front of him, Mank sets out to create history by using some of his own which just so happens to involve a stupidly rich and power hungry newspaper mogul (William Randolph Hearst, portrayed by Charles Dance) and his much younger female muse/lover (Marion Davies, played by Amanda Seyfried). Through a multitude of flashbacks that detail Mank’s run-ins and relationships with both Hearst and Davies, as well as his involvement in the increasingly ruthless 1934 gubernatorial race in California, MANK argues that if life is not at least stranger than fiction, it may just be exactly like it.
At just over two hours, Fincher maintains a steady pace that fully keeps his subject in focus, despite his shift from a tight personal drama about a forgotten writer to a wide and witty takedown of Old Hollywood. While each respective scene is made with the stylistic proficiency that has become associated with Mr. Fincher, MANK as a whole feels a little too light on its toes despite its grand themes and story as the film never settles on what it truly wants to focus on (retribution for a lost artist or a reckoning with an old world). It can be both but the film sadly never accomplishes that goal as those pair of themes are let down by characters that never fill out to the grand figures they are made to be. With the titular Mank, Gary Oldman brings a shaggy if lovable charm to his down on his luck character that makes for an interesting anchor but Jack Fincher’s script never allows for deeper viewing into just what made Mank the man he is; sure, the film operates primarily on flashbacks that give insight into Mank’s inspiration for CITIZEN KANE but even so everyone he interacts with feels like a memory of a person rather than a fully developed character. Indeed, while Fincher has a good ear for snappy and witty dialogue that feels true to the times, none of the other characters outside of Mank are fleshed out enough to give any moment of narrative reveal that hard hitting sense of enlightenment which is a shame when it comes to the likes of Dance’s Hearst and Seyfried’s Davies, who each put in solid performances despite their rather lacking presences.
With such lightness affecting its characters, it’s no surprise that when MANK finally does arrive to emotional moments of pain, regret, and reconciliation, these pieces fall flat because they feel unearned. Despite his icy filmmaking style, Fincher has still managed to somehow turn tales of serial killers (ZODIAC), modern day tech tragedies (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) and messed up love stories (GONE GIRL) into films that hit at something affectingly human. With MANK, the style is all there, but the heart is absent. But man, does that style come really close to crafting a heart for the film all on its own! Shot in black and white while still maintaining digital origins with buzzing support from a well made original score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and a delightfully aged sound design that sounds ripped from some lost RKO film of the1940’s, MANK effectively portrays itself as a movie of its own unique time. Even little touches such as the random “cigarette burns” that pop up on screen every now and then or the the cheekily edited transitions add to the film’s overall throwback charm but alas, even an impressive impersonation is still just that: an impersonation.
In the end, even as it is lovingly made and more than adequately performed, there lies a nagging emptiness at the heart of this film. Ironically, for a film about a writer embarking on the creation of one of the riskiest scripts of all time, MANK feels disappointingly safe.
3/5
