Mank is loosely based around the life of Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), the famed writer of Citizen Kane, among many others. The premise of the story is how Herman Mankiewicz gained notoriety from his early days at Paramount Studios to moving to the star factory MGM in the 1930s and his introduction into the Hearst inner circle and his ongoing friendship with Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried).
Rumor has it that Citizen Kane was written from the observations Mankiewicz made while staying at San Simeon and the relationship William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) had with mistress Marion Davies, which mimics the story of Citizen Kane.
Directed by David Fincher, who in his own right has an impressive catalogue including music videos Vogue, Freedom! ’90 and Who Is it and a number of moves including Se7en, Fight Club and Gone Girl. Shot entirely in black and white, Fincher’s vision for Mank is to outline the relationship Mankiewicz had with Orson Welles and how Mankiewicz came about to create the famed script for Citizen Kane.
Written by Jack Fincher, yes David’s father, the film delves into the 1930s Hollywood and the power brokers who controlled the industry and how Herman Mankiewicz bucked the trend. Herman didn’t want to play ball with all these powerful individuals and bristled against the elite that could make or break careers in the movie industry at the time. Mank calls out the hypocrisy of it all and how money, power and politics came in to play and influences many of the deals and decision making at the time.
This is a delicious film for anyone who loves this time in history and the story of Hollywood. But it is a fascinating idea to create a film around the famed Citizen Kane writer and try to understand his motivation for writing the controversial screen play that did upset and annoy many of the power brokers of the industry. You can’t help but wonder how many of them knew the real story and how much effort went into getting the picture made when at the time so many powerful individuals were against it.
Gary Oldman as Herman Mankiewicz presents a dimension of a character who is battling an addiction to alcohol, but it is a crutch to deal with the realities of working for relentless industry that expects the best and you to fall into line and believe and follow as they do. Oldman is almost unrecognizable in the role.
Stand out is Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies. Marion Davies was a film star in her own right. She was known as a comedian on the screen, but once she met William Randolph Hearst he started to control every aspect of her life. Amanda plays this role perfectly with the Brooklyn accent, as Davies was originally from Brooklyn.
Mank is a film that has been developed by someone fascinated with cinema history and a love for the Golden Age of Hollywood. Watching this curious story about a film that is part of legend, Citizen Kane, a film that challenged the industry and a majority of the power brokers of Hollywood did everything possible to stop it being made and then tried to prevent it from being distributed.
For those of you who are Citizen Kane aficionados and have a love for old Hollywood cinema, then you will enjoy every minute of the new film Mank available on Netflix.
